


Blood is thicker than water

by ojos_abiertos



Category: Naruto
Genre: Adoptive Parent Hatake Kakashi, Alternate Universe - Gangsters, Multi, Smoking, Smut, Violence, kind of
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-25
Updated: 2021-01-23
Packaged: 2021-03-01 00:47:24
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 46,391
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23316382
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ojos_abiertos/pseuds/ojos_abiertos
Summary: A little girl comes up to Kakashi, handing him all of her money. In return, she asks Kakashi to kill her abusive parent.What was he supposed to do? Not adopt her?Maybe, because she is now in the middle of a gang fight.
Relationships: Hatake Kakashi/Umino Iruka, Sarutobi Asuma/Yuuhi Kurenai
Comments: 17
Kudos: 93





	1. Sadie Williams

**Author's Note:**

> Back at it again with another modern AU. It can't be helped, I am sorry. Also, I still suck at summaries and tags, so I am also sorry for that.
> 
> I wrote this a while back and it was meant to be a one shot but it quickly developed into something else. I am finally posting it because now that quarantine is mandatory and it’s uncertain how long it’s going to be, I have the time to finish it.
> 
> Go on, then. I really hope you like it!

They entered the club laughing and making a lot of noise in celebration. Just about how they entered any place. Almost every head turned around to watch them but they didn’t pay attention, they were used to it. They were a big, loud, eye-catching group after all.

The man who entered first took a seat at the bar, giving his back to the shelves filled with alcohol bottles to watch the dancefloor. His close circle sat next to him and the rest took seats elsewhere, if they weren’t on the dancefloor already.

He was different from the rest of the big group. Everyone laughed and talked loudly, making themselves stand out from the crowd. This man laid lower, staying out of the scene and avoiding the hype that seemed to go around his people. Still, the group respected him, no one would touch him, not even accidentally; when the man walked over the bar, the younger members of the group went ahead running past him, careful to avoid him and the older ones walked slightly behind him. This man seemed to be their leader.

He had to be around thirty years old, even if his hair was the color of silver. His narrow gray eyes were calculating, carved over sharp cheekbones. His body was slender but clearly toned under his dark leather jacket. He was the only one in the group that had a serious face, his eyes running all over the place as if he could scan it.

“Tessa!” he called the short brown haired girl standing a few steps away. The girl nodded once in acknowledgement to indicate that she was listening, which was impressive since the music was quite loud. “I don’t want Kiba to overdrink,” he said.

Tessa, who didn’t seem to be over twenty three years old, looked around biting her lower lip a little, frustrated but not quite defying the order to take care of the kid.

“I am not asking, Tessa,” the man reminded her. The words were enough to change her posture, she nodded and disappeared into the crowd, looking for Kiba.

The man turned around, now giving his back to dancefloor, and placed a cigarette between his lips with a barely there smile as his friends shouted jokes and laughed over the loud music. Just when he was about to light it, the bartender interrupted.

“You can’t smoke here,” he said.

The man glared harshly at him and the bartender tried to hold his gaze, but his pupils were almost shaking as he took a step back. The intensity was so much that his friends shut up to look at the scene with serious faces. A few people he didn’t know also peeked over to watch what was going on.

“I smoke wherever I want,” the man said and proceeded to light the cigarette that was still hanging on his mouth. “Your best whiskey, neat. Bring the bottle,” he asked for after he blew a puff of smoke away.

“I-”

“The name is Kakashi Hatake. Tell that to your boss, and I am sure he will find it in his heart to gift us that bottle,” the man interrupted, smoke scaping his mouth through his white teeth.

The bartender nodded, clearly nervous, and left almost running as the group around Kakashi laughed.

“Damn, it’s been a while since we came here, innit?” a man known as Asuma, who was sitting next to Kakashi, commented as he lit a cigarette of his own.

“But we’ve earned free booze, so whatever,” the man at Kakashi’s right replied.

“Come on, Gai, we can get free booze anywhere and you know it,” the only woman, whose eyes were as red as blood, said.

“Yeah, if the bartender is properly motivated,” a guy with a toothpick between his lips called Genma laughed, and the rest followed.

Kakashi lost his interest on the conversation as he saw a big man approach them with a fake smile that flashed his golden tooth.

“Hatake, haven’t seen you in a while,” he said as he placed a whiskey bottle in front of him. The newcomer was very muscular, with light grayish skin and short spiky hair. The silver haired man blew some smoke away before answering.

“Zabuza Momochi, did you miss me?” Kakashi asked as the other man, Zabuza, set six glasses on the bar and filled them with the amber liquid.

Zabuza laughed at the question, spilling some alcohol over the counter carelessly. “You know there is no right answer to that. What brings you around?” he asked, handing out glasses to Kakashi and his friends, keeping one for himself.

“My people felt like dancing, so we thought we would be welcomed here,” the gray haired answered before chugging down the content of his glass and staring at the owner of the club, who poured him some more whiskey.

“I was thinking about reaching out, actually. I could use some protection and you might need some business,” Zabuza smiled after drinking some whiskey.

Kakashi smoked some more and when he opened his mouth to answer, he was interrupted by someone calling his name. He turned around slowly to find one of the members of his inner circle, Tenzō, who was supposed to be watching the door.

“What is it?” Kakashi asked, annoyed to be interrupted.

“Someone outside is asking for you,” Tenzō informed when he got closer, so only his friend could hear him.

“And?” the gray haired asked with a bored tone.

Kakashi saw the brown haired hesitate a little and wondered what the hell was happening as he took a hit from his cigarette. “And you should check it out.”

“Can’t you take care of it?” Kakashi asked, but Tenzō looked away from him, fidgeting his fingers. What the hell could make one of his most trusted man so awkward? “Alright,” he gave in and turned to Zabuza, “if you don’t mind, I have something to take care of. Can we discuss this later?”

“Sure,” the man replied.

The silver haired drank the rest of the whiskey and grounded out the cigarette in the ashtray before heading out, giving Tenzō orders to stay inside.

Once he was outside, he lit another cigarette as he looked around to find whoever was looking for him.

“Are you the Scarecrow?” he heard a high-pitched voice say. It came from below, making Kakashi frown. If he could’ve frowned more, he would have when he saw who the voice belonged to. 

Not far from where Kakashi was standing, there was a little girl. The dirty blonde was staring at him with her big hazel eyes, and he guessed she was at least six years old, but he didn’t know shit about children so he could be really wrong. She had a defiant look in her eyes, but how couldn’t Tenzō handle her?

“I am. Isn’t it past your bedtime?” Kakashi asked, letting smoke exit his mouth as he spoke. Two in the morning wasn’t a decent hour for a small girl to be alone.

The child gasped in… excitement? No, it couldn’t be, no one was excited to see Hatake; this girl was weird. Or she didn’t know what she was getting into. She got closer with small clumsy steps and extended her arms towards Kakashi, offering him a better look of the purple piggy bank she was carrying.

“They say that if I give you my money, you can get rid of a person,” she said, arms over her head.

Kakashi raised his eyebrows and held the cigarette on his mouth so he could take the piggy bank. Twelve dollars, seventy five cents. It wasn’t even enough to have a decent meal in the city, but it was all this kid got. And she was willing to give him everything so he could take out someone.

“How did you even find me?” 

“The scarecrow relaxes under red and green lights,” the little girl recited as if it explained everything. She was clearly repeating something someone had told her.

Kakashi’s bar had neon lights on the outside, colored red and green. The child was smart, but they were currently at a club five blocks away. “We are not there,” he pointed out.

“I followed you here from the bar,” she explained. The child was definitely smart.

“Do you know what is it that you are asking, kid?” he asked with the cigarette hanging between his lips. The kid’s eyes were still glued to him. One of Kakashi’s eyes was a red glass one and was crossed by a nasty, long vertical scar, most people couldn’t hold his gaze the way this little girl was. Call Kakashi Hatake impressed.

He wondered if he looked like that when he was a kid. Alone, barely holding it together but with an earnest look on his eyes. The little girl knew she had crossed a line she couldn’t come back from, but if she regretted it, she didn’t show it. Kakashi respected that in some way.

“Yes, I am not dumb. I want you to get rid of my father,” she demanded. Her look was as defiant as when he first saw her, but slowly filling with tears.

Kakashi sighed and ducked down so his head would be at the same level as hers. “You do know that what I do is pretty permanent then, don’t you?” he asked before taking a deep puff on his cigarette, blowing the smoke away from her.

“He is not a good person,” the little blonde nodded.

“What did he do, kid?” The girl looked away for the first time since they met. “Does he hit your mother?” he wondered.

“I don’t have one.”

“Does he hit you?” the man asked, smoking some more. The little girl looked at him, hazel eyes filled with tears. He did hit her. “Is that all?” Kakashi inquired further. The kid shook her head in a remarkably slow manner.

Damn.

This couldn’t be what Kakashi was thinking.

He blew some more smoke away from her.

“Does he touch you where he isn’t supposed to?” he asked, fixing his eyes on her.

The small girl stared at him. “He is not a good person,” she repeated. Kakashi was right again. There were still tears on her eyes, but her look was more determinant than before.

Kakashi threw his cigarette away as he stood up again, wrinkling out his pants with his hands.

“How old are you?”

“I turned six three months ago,” the little girl answered. Kakashi nodded slowly, pensive.

“I’ll get you home and I’ll visit you again in three days. You are a smart kid, but foster care is less than fun, I hope you know that. Think about it and if you say yes again, you’ll get yourself a deal,” the gray haired said. The dirty blonde nodded eagerly and when Kakashi walked over his motorbike, she followed.

The gangster grabbed a helmet and looked at it. Then, at the child. And at the helmet again.

“Here, put this on, kid,” he said and gave her the helmet. He got on the motorcycle and waited to the girl to follow, but after a few seconds he didn’t notice a shift in the weight of the vehicle. 

Kakashi frowned and look down at the blonde.

“I am small, you know?” she complained through the helmet, which was too big on her. It was almost adorable. 

He sighed loudly as he saw the girl raise her arms. 

The gangster picked the little girl up from the floor, and placed her behind him. He then adjusted the helmet, so it would fit less loosely.

“Okay, you can hold on here, see?” Kakashi said, showing her where she could grab for stability, “I guess I won’t go that fast. Tug my jacket on the left or right to indicate where I should turn, got it?”

“Yup,” the girl nodded.

She seemed rather excited, and Kakashi couldn’t even see her face.

Weird kid.

# \---

Three days later, Kakashi parked his motorbike on the sidewalk opposite to the girl’s house. It was late, about one in the morning, but the lights were on.

The silver haired lit a cigarette and waited patiently. He had been observing the owner of the house’s routine those past two days, and knew that the man would go to sleep soon, leaving the little girl to wash the dishes. During his late examinations, he got to see how the man struck the little child on two occasions, and Kakashi had never experienced it before, but it took every cell on his body not to interfere. That man was lucky he didn’t try to touch the child in another manner.

The kitchen window was right over the sink and faced where Kakashi was standing so, when her drunk parent passed out on his room and she stood up on a chair to do the chore, the little girls saw him.

The smile on her face could’ve blinded Kakashi.

She quickly but silently got off the chair and crossed the street to approach the gray haired.

“Hey, kid,” he said, throwing away his cigarette and stepping on it to put it out.

“Scarecrow!” she exclaimed, joining the palms of her hands on small, noiseless applauses.

“Do you have an answer?” he asked.

“Yes, I still want you to do it. I have one dollar more! I’ll pay up, I promise,” the little girl smiled. Kakashi noticed that she was missing a tooth, one on the left, next to the canines. She had all her teeth three nights ago. 

He crouched down and grabbed her by the chin to examin her face. He lifted her face a little and noticed the top of a purple bruise on her collarbone. He gently let go of her face.

“Can you move your shirt? Only a little, I only want to see your collarbone. You are injured, aren’t you?” Kakashi asked in a low voice. He didn’t want the little girl to think he wanted to touch her in a way no one should.

“I… I don’t want to,” she muttered. It was the first time the gray haired heard her stutter.

“It’s okay, don’t worry,” he said in the friendliest tone he could muster, given that his killing instincts were over the clouds. “From now on, you don’t have to show your skin to anyone if you don’t want to, okay, kid?”

The little girl nodded slightly and gave him a sheepish smile. “O…Okay.”

“We are going to do this tonight, are you scared?” 

“Am I… um… Am I going to see you after?” the kid asked, still stuttering a little and avoiding the question.

“You’ll stay the night at my place and I’ll be there after it’s done, yes.”

“And after that… foster care?” he asked and her eyes found Kakashi’s. There was something behind her eyes that wanted to be said and the gray haired hoped he was right about what went down next.

“What’s your name, kid?” Kakashi asked, looking into the little girl’s big hazel eyes.

“Um… Sadie. Sadie Williams,” she answered.

“Sadie Williams, what would you say if I asked you to live with me from now on?” 

The blonde gave him a toothy smile, and Kakashi felt something weird in his chest he didn’t know how to describe. “Are you for real?”

“My name is Kakashi Hatake. Ask around, I am always for real.”

# \---

Kakashi had showered before entering his apartment, not wanting Sadie to find some blood stain he missed or smell something weird, or whatever. She had asked him to do what he did, but Kakashi’s victim was still her father. He didn’t know how the little girl would feel. 

He usually didn’t take care of stuff like that anymore; normally, he would delegate the job to one of his man or woman who was just starting, but he took this petition to heart. He was adopting the kid, after all.

Damn, the Family was going to be so mad at him; he would have to remind them who was in charge. And when other gangs found out, they were going to think they already have his head on a silver platter. A kid was a liability, and everyone knew it. But fuck that, Kakashi ran one of the strongest and most successful gangs, he even had clean business; a kid couldn’t mess that up. He would teach Sadie to look after herself so he didn’t have to worry about it. He had taught the rest of the Family, after all.

“Boss,” Raidō, the man guarding the door of his two story apartment for the night, saluted.

“Thank you, you are dismissed,” Kakashi spoke as he grabbed the doorknob of his wide dark wooden front door.

“I should inform you that Gai is inside, along with the child.” 

“Yes, you should. See you tomorrow,” the gray haired nodded thankfully.

“See you tomorrow,” the man said goodbye.

Raidō was gone by the time Kakashi closed the door. He left the suitcase he was carrying on the dinner table and headed to the living room.

Gai was standing next to the couch where Sadie was seated, giving his back to the fireplace and staring at Kakashi with a single eyebrow raised.

“Care to explain?” Gai asked.

The little girl noticed that he wasn’t talking to her, so she removed the dog that sat on her lap to stand up on the couch and turned around, leaning on the backrest. “Scarecrow!” she exclaimed when she saw the gray haired man. Kakashi noticed a small chocolate stain on the corner of her mouth and sighed.

“What did you tell him, kid?” Kakashi asked with a bored tone as the dog smelled his feet. Gai was the best at taking information out of people, not that a six year old was a hard target.

“She is a remarkable child, but the Family is going to want an explanation,” Gai intervened. He was talking in third person, since he was part of said group. Did he not want an explanation?

“Call a meeting first thing in the morning. And remind them who runs this Family, I don’t appreciate to be treated like a child,” Kakashi replied severely.

“Well, we don’t either. Good night, and good night to you to, Sadie,” the taller man replied, not caring about the gray haired’s tone.

Sadie didn’t say goodbye back, she just looked at Gai leave. When she heard the front door close, Kakashi sighed. “I am sorry,” she apologized quietly.

“Don’t worry about it. Are you hungry?”

Sadie shook her head. “Gai gave me ice cream,” she replied. That wasn’t a proper dinner, but she would get away with it that night.

“Oh, that’s the weakness behind your tough image?”

The blonde blushed and looked at the floor. “I can’t eat ice cream,” she whispered. Kakashi frowned without noticing, he had looked through all the information available about her and he was sure she wasn’t lactose intolerant. That would mean that his father had never bought her some. Kakashi didn’t know much about children, but decided that every kid should have ice cream.

“You can now. But it’s time to go to bed, don’t you think? Tomorrow I’ll have someone bring your things here, you can write a list if there’s anything in particular you want us to retrieve,” Kakashi said, getting closer to the fireplace to grab a paper and a pen.

“I don’t know how to write that well yet,” Sadie told him.

Kakashi stopped what he was doing to look at her. “Right, you are a child. I’ll also ask someone to help you with that tomorrow. Let’s get you to bed.”

“Okay. Bye, Pakkun,” she said to the dog. Kakashi side smiled, but not too much so that Sadie couldn’t notice.

The girl followed Kakashi upstairs, where there were three spacious bedrooms and two bathrooms.

“This is your room. If you need anything, I sleep down the hall,” Kakashi said. He hesitated a little, not knowing if she would need anything else. What were the necessities of a six year old? Kakashi didn’t even know is she could shower on her own, and she was pretty short, the gray haired doubted she could even open his fridge.

Therr were many bridges to cross, but not tonight, he decided.

He left her room and went to the dining room to retrieve the suitcase. He then headed to his bedroom and placed the two guns that where inside the suitcase in one of the drawers under his bed.

Kakashi’s bedroom was minimally decorated in black and white, making the bed was the star of the room.

The large mattress was framed between four slick black columns that went up to the ceiling, and it was placed on a platform about a meter tall full of spacious drawers. His bed was about a little over a meter and a half tall with the mattress, Sadie was shorter than that. Kakashi liked his bed high and liked to have things on hand. Everything could happen anytime and he had to be ready.

Like that exact night.

He was sleeping when he felt movement at his right. Kakashi immediately moved to the left side of the bed, and opened one of the drawers. He felt his gun with the tips of his fingers and stayed still.

On the other side, the mattress moved a little and Kakashi heard a tumultuous noise followed by a low whine.

What the…?

Oh, Sadie.

The gray haired closed the drawer and moved back to the center of the bed, curious to observe what the little girl would do next.

A small hand reached the top of the mattress, followed by blond hair. Soon, Sadie’s face emerged and, with a final impulse, her whole body landed ungracefully on top of the bed. Panting, she removed some strands of hair from her face and crawled to where Kakashi was pretending to sleep.

Kakashi wasn’t a man you could easily surprise or impress, but this girl… Perhaps it was because she was a child, he didn’t have any experience with little humans so he didn’t know what to expect. What Sadie did to astonish him was quite simple, really.

The little girl approached him, Kakashi was resting on his back shirtless, with a hand on his stomach. She carefully removed the hand and then laid on top of him, curling up on his chest. If Kakashi wasn’t as tall as he was and Sadie wasn’t as small as she was, she might have not fitted as well as she did.

Kakashi had to fight hard to keep his jaw where it was supposed to be. Sadie fell asleep almost right away, leaving the gray haired alone with his thoughts. Like the one that screamed _what the hell should I do?_ Were all kids like that? Did he had to stay still all night? Was this normal?

His thoughts lulled him to sleep, placing a hand on Sadie’s back without noticing.

# \---

Sadie put a hand over her head to prevent the sun from blinding her and looked around, wondering who would pick her up from school that day. Far away, a man with a leather jacket and a baseball cap lifted his arm so she would notice him. As she walked over towards him, she saw that the man was wearing sunglasses and was smoking.

When she saw that the man was flicking away a cigarette, a smile quickly appeared on her face as she ran towards him.

“Those things are going to kill you!” Sadie exclaimed as she hugged his leg. His full body was covered and he wore suits more often than not, so the little girls hadn’t recognized him right away. She wasn’t expecting it either, her guardian didn’t ever pick her up from school.

“Always remember that,” Kakashi replied while he ruffled her hair. “Happy birthday, kid,” he smiled. Not that Sadie could see it. She gave him a toothy smile and raised her arms over her head, asking to be lifted up. “Later, Sadie,” Kakashi said as he grabbed one of the small hands and started walking.

Sadie turned seven that day, and she didn’t usually ask to be lifted up that much anymore, but she must have considered that Kakashi wouldn’t oblige if they weren’t at home. 

“Want ice cream?” he asked.

“Yes!” she happily agreed.

When they got home, their dog, Pakkun, jumped at her in excitement, as if he knew it was her birthday. The little girl giggled and let Pakkun lick her face.

“Sadie!” Kakashi scolded the blonde when he saw her feeding some ice cream to the dog.

The kid looked at the dog and then at the gray haired. “We got caught, Pakkun,” she whispered to the pug.

“You know you can’t give sweets to the dog,” Kakashi reminded her. Sadie nodded shyly. “I got something for you, want to see?” he asked in a softer tone of voice.

Sadie’s eyes sparkled. “A gift?”

“A gift,” Kakashi confirmed and walked over to the living room.

He heard Sadie’s little steps follow him, and he sat on the couch as he waited. He removed his sunglasses and the baseball cap just as the kid entered the room followed by Pakkun.

On the coffee table, there was a wrapped gift that made Sadie’s eyes shine even more.

“Go ahead, kid,” Kakashi said when he saw that the girl had frozen.

Sadie nodded slowly and began to do so. She didn’t tear it apart, she just carefully opened it to discover a large book.

She read the title, and gasped loudly. “It’s the book about jellyfishes! How…?”

“You always look at it when I take you to the library. Besides, your obsession with jellyfishes isn’t a secret,” the gray haired interrupted.

“Thank you,” Sadie whispered as she ran her fingers through the cover of the book, as if she couldn’t believe it was real.

“You are welcome. Do you want to do anything special today?”

“Business isn’t calling?” the dirty blonde asked with a tone the man didn’t know how to decipher. It has been nine months, but kids were still a mystery for him. Sadie’s eyes still glued to the big book, trying to avoid Kakashi’s stare.

The silver haired worked a lot, his businesses required a lot of attention. He had people take her to school and back, and looking after her all day. Kakashi came home late, when Sadie was asleep, so they didn’t see each other much. He also worked on the weekends, but not as much. Sometimes, he would make it home for a late dinner, but it was better than nothing. ‘Business is calling,’ was what he would say before leaving.

But he never promised Sadie a normal life, or a new parent. And she didn’t expect that, she had asked him to kill her father, after all; normal wasn’t in the plan, Sadie was smart enough to understand that. Despite that, the little girl had grown attached to the Scarecrow. He was a little scary sometimes, when angry, but she was certain that he would never hurt her. No one had ever protected her like the gray haired did. After everything she’s been through, only with Kakashi she was truly comfortable. 

“I cleared my schedule for you,” Kakashi replied. “Only because it’s your birthday, don’t get used to it,” he added when he saw the bright look on the girl’s eyes.

“Then, I want to go to the carnival!”

“Didn’t Kurenai take you on Sunday already?” the gray haired asked with an eyebrow raised. Sadie frowned and crossed her arms. Kakashi let out a laugh at the pouting child. “Fine, let’s go tonight. Shower and nap first, sounds alright?”

“If I can have a bubble bath with Pakkun in it,” Sadie tried to negotiate.

Kakashi stifled a laugh. “No way, get in the shower.”

“I tried, doggy,” she said as he petted Pakkun.

Kakashi came out of the bathroom and into his bedroom just as Sadie came in with her dirty blonde hair dripping over the floor. Why did she always refuse to dry it at least a little with a towel was a mystery Kakashi had yet to figure out.

“Oh, you want to nap together?” Kakashi asked. Sadie’s expression shifted, she frowned slightly and parted her lips. “Easy, it’s cool, kid,” he assured before she could say anything. He was planning on working a little, but he still sat on his bed and waited for Sadie to follow.

Sadie got closer to the bed and tried to climb it. She was as almost as tall as the bed now, but it seemed to still be a challenge for her. She put one foot on the handle of one of the drawers and used it to propel herself up.

A sonorous noise announced her fall. Sadie tried to unsuccessfully muffle a whine.

“Kakashi!” she called, extending her arms so that the silver haired would lift her up.

He gave her a lazy look instead. “You are the smartest kid I know, you can figure it out.”

“I am the only kid you know,” Sadie complained, knowing she was right.

“Then I am not wrong,” he replied with a bored tone.

“It’s my birthday,” she stated, hoping the man would take pity on her but aware it was a long shot.

“Life doesn’t work like that, Sadie.” 

She frowned and tried again. Foot over the handle, hands gripping the comforter. Next thing she knew, she was falling on her side again. Sadie just pushed her bottom lip forward in response.

“Are you pouting?” Kakashi asked with a severe tone.

“...No?” Sadie replied quietly, changing her expression to a barely there frown.

Kakashi let out a long sigh and looked at the kid, but she was looking elsewhere. 

“You have climbed the bed a few times already, so you know it can be done. Look at me,” he ordered. Sadie kept looking away, refusing to oblige. “I said look at me,” he repeated with a harder tone. Sadie then met his mismatched eyes with her glassy ones.

“Visualize your goal. Imagine yourself on top of the bed, sitting with me. Imagine closing your eyes and falling asleep, warm and comfortable,” he said slowly and gave her a few more seconds to think deeper about it. “Got it?” Kakashi asked when the blonde’s look became more assertive. Sadie nodded without breaking the stare. “You know what you want, how to do it and you know that you can actually do it. What’s next?”

“Now I do it,” Sadie smiled fiercely.

“Show me.”

The dirty blonde placed a foot on the drawer’s handle and gripped the comforter. She breathed out and looked up. Sadie then propelled herself up, placing her other leg on the bed. A little push more and the was sitting on the edge of the bed.

A bright smile lit her face up.

“I did it!” she celebrated as she crawled over Kakashi. Sadie positioned herself on Kakashi’s lap and hugged him. The gray haired placed a hand on her back and tapped lightly. 

Kakashi laid down on his back, making the kid do the same.

“You can’t success without failing a couple of times, kid, and giving up is not an option. You can’t always trust other people to help you. Picture your goal, be assertive and get things done,” Kakashi said into her wet hair.

Sadie propped herself on her hands, which she placed on the gray haired’s shoulders. “Thank you,” she whispered and proceeded to snuggle on Kakashi’s chest to take the nap.

# \---

Kakashi climbed the stairs that lead to his front door. His apartment was right over the bar he owned, but he hadn’t worked there that day. He let his tie loose as he looked for his keys.

He reached the key he was looking for just when he took the last step of the stairs. The silver haired walked over his door to find a scene that made him immediately go for his gun.

Right over the gray mat that was in front of the door, laid Pakkun.

A white knife was embedded in the dog’s chest, blood stained his fur.

Kakashi got closer with the gun on his hand when he heard someone getting closer. He ran over the top of the stairs and aimed to the corner where the person would emerge from.

Who the fuck had killed his dog? And where the hell did the person that had to take care of the kid go?

His mind started to work at the speed of light, wondering who the hell did he managed to piss off this time.

Where was Sadie?

If the kid wasn’t safe, blood would flood every street until everyone knew not to fuck with him. And it wasn’t s threat. It was a promise.

The noise got lauder, and Kakashi saw a glimpse of dirty blond hair and placed his arm behind his back as fast as lightning, hiding the gun from the little girl that appeared a second later. 

“Kakashi!” Sadie greeted happily with an ice cream cone in one hand. Kakashi let out a breath, glad that the kid didn’t got to see the firearm.

“Sadie, don’t move,” the gray haired order. His tone was so uneasy that the girl stopped right on the middle of the stairs, more likely due to the confusion than the order. “Who are you with?”

“Wait for me, demon!” a voice yelled from the stairs. 

Kakashi closed his eyes in relief. The owner of the voice appeared and stopped right behind Sadie. 

“Yo, Kakashi,” Asuma greeted. “What’s going on?” he asked when he saw his friend’s expression and the arm he hid behind his back.

“Are you packing?” the gray haired asked. Asuma nodded. “Good. Are you two alone?”

“Kurenai is going to be here in a few minutes,” the black haired answered.

Kakashi closed his eyes to think for a bit. “Okay, take Sadie and call an emergency Family meeting. Kurenai and I’ll meet you all in an hour.” _Watch your six_ went unsaid. His dog was fucking dead and if he was right, Sadie would be next.

“What’s happening?” Sadie asked, getting more and more confused by the minute. 

The two man ignored her. Asuma swallowed. “But, the kid,” the black haired said to Kakashi. 

“Her safety comes first,” the gray haired replied faintly. It translated somewhere near ‘don’t show her a gun or kill someone unless you have no choice.’

“Kakashi, what are you talking about?” Sadie insisted, annoyed to be ignored and out of the loop.

But the silver haired was looking at Asuma. “Come on, demon. You heard him, we’ll see him later,” Asuma said to the child.

“Yeah, b-”

“Go ahead, kid. I’ll tell you later; I’m for real, remember?” Kakashi assured. 

The blonde nodded slowly and turned around. She grabbed Asuma’s hand and they left.

Getting closer to his front door, Kakashi relaxed his arm and took a better look at the scene. 

Pakkun was stabbed between his ribs, quite methodically. It was pretty messy, there was blood all over him and the mat, some even on the door. The dog must’ve given a good fight since the wound seemed to be bigger than the blade that caused it. Or the bastards twisted the knife. Warm anger rushed through Kakashi’s body like fuel about to ignite him.

A post-it note was stuck on top of the knife.

_We warned you._

A few steps startled Kakashi, he stood up and turned with his gun aimed and ready to fire. His target put her hands on the air with an unamused look.

“Calm down, idiot,” Kurenai said with a bored tone and Kakashi put the weapon down. “What the hell happened?”

Kakashi moved aside to show her the crime scene. “Some fuckers killed my dog. We may have angered the Eagles.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you want to know about quarantine here in Argentina or if you want to see some Naruto goodness, you can check out my Tumblr: ojosabiertos-thoughts.
> 
> Anyways, I am glad you read this, you can let me know how you feel on the comments! I hope to see you next chapter <3


	2. Iruka Umino

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Writing smut is _hard_ , I don't know why I'm doing this to myself. Also, I know this chapter is kind of long, but I really didn’t want to split it up in two so this is what I can offer you. 
> 
> I seriously hope you like it! Stay safe, stay home!

Asuma was blowing away a puff of smoke leaning back on the wall when Kakashi returned to the bar, smoking a cigarette of his own.

“Is everyone inside?” the silver haired asked before throwing his cigarette and stepping on it to put it out.

Asuma nodded. “The demon is pretty shaken,” he commented casually.

“Meeting room when you are done,” Kakashi ordered and went inside, deliberately ignoring him.

Kakashi noticed numerous chairs without anyone sitting on them and two empty pool tables by the windows. The bar was deserted, no one inside but Gai and Sadie, sitting on a couch on the corner. Kakashi headed directly to the meeting room, that was behind the bar along with three offices and a living room area.

But a voice calling his name stopped him. It was Gai’s. Kakashi glared at him and, in return, Gai gave him a look that said what he wanted without actually opening his mouth. 

“We have a meeting to attend, Gai,” Kakashi reminded him, his voice as severe as his look.

The taller man with bushy eyebrows nodded once in Sadie’s direction, who was sitting next to him staring into space. Kakashi let out a sigh.

“You okay, kid?” the gray haired asked, stepping closer to her. The blonde nodded, and then flashed him a quick weak smile but Kakashi could notice that her eyes weren’t as sparkly as usual, her mind was somewhere else.

“Asuma said that there are people out there that don’t like the Hellhounds. And that those people sometimes do thing to make you angry,” Sadie almost whispered.

“He isn’t wrong. This time they did something awful, but we’ll catch them.”

The kid looked at him for a while. “Your knuckles are red. Didn’t you catch them already?”

“You are too smart for your own good,” Kakashi smiled. He then noticed Asuma behind him, going into the meeting room. “I’ll tell you after the meeting, okay? Stay here watching tv and it’ll be over soon,” he said and Gai went to grab the remote control to hand it to her.

“Are we-?”

“You are in the safest place you can be. Nothing is going to happen to you here,” Gai assured.

Sadie nodded and changed the tv channel. Kakashi ruffled her hair and went into the meeting room followed by Gai.

Kakashi felt the air thick due to cigarette smoke, he closed the doors behind him, bringing attention to himself. Without saying a word, he took out a white knife from inside his coat and nailed it in the center of the table with a loud noise. Silence made itself present immediately.

“Well, that was dramatic,” Genma, who wore a black bandana over his straight brown shoulder length hair, commented under his breath with a slight smile that held a cigarette in place. 

The gray haired gave him a stern look and walked over to his chair at the end of the large table with five sets of eyes on his back and, once seated, lighted a cigarette himself.

“That knife,” the gray haired said, pointing at it with his cigarette, “was inside my dog earlier tonight. Where the fuck was Tora?” he asked, looking at Asuma and Kurenai, who were sitting side by side at his right.

Tora was supposed to be guarding the house and taking care of Sadie. She was supposed to prevent things like what happened.

“I dismissed her, and then took the demon out for an ice cream. She is fine, Kakashi,” Asuma answered and took a hit from his cigarette.

“She is _fine_?” Kakashi repeated slowly, his tone poisonous. The smoke seemed to had become thicker, making it harder to breathe. The room stayed quiet, letting the bearded man take the hit.

“Yes, Kakashi, she’s fine. She didn’t see anything shady. But you should’ve thought about it when you adopt-”

“That isn’t the issue right now. The problem is that the East Eagles are after us,” Genma interrupted. Asuma pointed at him with his cigarette, and the rest nodded in agreement.

Kakashi was staring daggers into the black haired man’s eyes as he let the cigarette’s smoke get to his lungs.

“Did you fill them in?” the gray haired changed the subject, directing the question to Kurenai.

“Barely, I just got here. We took Pakkun to the Inuzuka’s. Tsume said that the killing method was… Well, it matched the East Eagles,” the red eyed woman said.

“Those bastards are just despicable,” Tenzō almost whispered. He was standing next to the door, leaning back on the wall with his arms crossed over his chest, where the light was so low you could barely see his serious face.

Everyone nodded slightly. The Eagles were known for a couple of things, one being their particular way of ending the lives of their enemies, mostly after torture or to send a message. They would stab the person in a specific place of the chest that would keep them alive as long as they didn’t move, it was highly methodical and only an Eagle would know how to do it. Once the victim moved, it would be over. But it was despicable because most of them moved voluntarily, not able to stand the pain and thinking that death was a relief, a way out.

“They are,” Kurenai agreed. “Your house is being cleaned and searched as we speak, Kakashi, but I don’t think they stole anything.”

“I don’t either,” Kakashi replied and took a drag on his cigarette and leaned back in his chair, looking at the ceiling as he kept smoking.

“What the hell did we do to piss them off?” Genma asked.

“You really are an idiot, aren’t you?” Kurenai said as she rolled her eyes. Genma was about to tell her to fuck off when Asuma interrupted.

“We are going to open a casino a month from now. Casinos are kind of the Eagles business,” the bearded man answered as he reached the ashtray to put his cigarette out since he couldn’t even put it in his mouth anymore.

“No shit, but our casino is in the west side of the city, far away from theirs; we aren’t going to steal their clients. I mean, I get that they’re trying to make a statement or whatever, but killing Pakkun like that is a bit much,” Genma said, puffing out smoke as Asuma lit a new cigarette.

“If the situation was reversed, we’d do something about it too. They did warn me, we decided not to listen,” Kakashi commented with a bored tone.

“Yes, and it was the right choice. We aren’t going to get bullied by some men with fragile ego, and we’re strong enough to fight them,” Gai, who was sitting at the gray haired’s right and next to Genma, intervened. 

Kakashi looked at his best friend, who had been uncharacteristically quiet during the meeting, as he took a long hit at his cigarette. “They have more resources and play dirtier than us,” the silver haired commented.

“We manage an illegal gambling operation and have over twenty bookies right in this bar, which is also ours. The Hellhounds offer protection to quite a lot of places. We would have open cases on robbery, disorderly conduct, extorsion, kidnapping, torture, murder… you name it,” Kurenai said.

“Yeah, if we didn’t have the police on our payroll,” Asuma added.

“But my goal is to have clean businesses, like half of the bar’s activities and the casino we are about to open. We need to be more careful than they are and not all of the police is in our payroll. I am not saying we won’t fight them, I am saying that we need to be smarter,” Kakashi replied.

“Were you smart tonight?” Gai asked, his tone accusatory. He looked at the silver haired’s knuckles and raised an eyebrow.

Kakashi sighed, letting some smoke leave his mouth. He hated explanations. “I found the guy who killed Pakkun. He was young, maybe twenty two years old. Definitely a scapegoat. I marked him with that knife,” he said pointing at the white knife still erect in the middle of the table.

“Wait, if the Eagles sent him on a suicide mission and has the H carved on his skin…” Genma started.

“Then he is a dead man walking,” Tenzō completed quietly.

The Hellhounds, the gang Kakashi was the leader of, also had a modus operandi, if you will. They carved an H in their enemies’ neck with a knife to mark them as a persona non-grata, not welcomed by the Hellhounds or their allies. It was a warning, they spared them once, but it wouldn’t happen again; and it could be a delayed death sentence.

The man that killed Pakkun had angered the Eagles and was offered a chance of redemption, if he murdered Kakashi’s dog, he would be pardoned; failing would mean that the Hellhounds caught him, and that would mean certain death. 

But both of those happened, only that Kakashi hadn’t killed him, jut marked him. The man couldn’t return to the Eagles with a fresh H carved in his neck, so he probably ran for his life knowing that if either gang found him… Yeah, dead man walking was just about right.

“If the Eagles want that man dead, they’ll have to do it,” Kakashi stated.

“Couldn’t he be spared?” Gai asked. Maybe the gray haired should’ve killed him or at least not marked him, it would be easier for the man that way.

Kakashi raised an eyebrow. “He killed my dog.”

“How do we-?” Asuma began to ask but was interrupted by someone opening the door.

All eyes went to the meeting room’s entrance to find out who was interrupting them, only to find Sadie. She had a tired look on her eyes, as if she was about to fall asleep. Right, it was a school night and it was pretty late. Kakashi reached an ashtray as soon as he saw her and put his cigarette out. “Come on, guys, you know the rules,” the gray haired said.

Genma and Asuma inhaled on their cigarettes one last time before also putting them out.

“Those things are going to kill you,” Sadie said yawning.

“And that’s why you won’t ever try one,” Kakashi replied dryly.

“Come here, demon. You are tired, right?” Genma asked as he moved his chair further from the table to make space for the blonde.

“Leave the door open, kid,” Kakashi added before she got a chance to try to close it. Leaving the door open would help a little with the smoke situation.

Sadie smiled sheepishly and crawled onto the brown haired’s lap, curling up against him while everyone looked at her fondly. The kid had grown into each member of the Family, she was basically their niece.

“Her safety is priority,” Kakashi said pointing at the blonde child who was slowly falling asleep. “The casino is opening in a month, I don’t care who doesn’t want it to happen but we still need to lay low. Tenzō, tell the Hellhounds that we won’t be provoking the Eagles under any circumstances; any other activity is fine. I’ll talk to Santa Yamanaka so the police knows to keep an eye on them. Anything else?”

“No, I think that’s it. We need another meeting to rearrange the opening, though,” Kurenai answered and everyone nodded.

“Of course. Be careful, see you tomorrow, Family.”

# \---

Kakashi’s blood was boiling. He felt it was going to melt his veins and arteries and go through his skin, wrecking everything. His anger made itself clear with every step he made, and everyone else in the police station moved aside to not get in his way as if they felt the fire emanating from him.

Santa Yamanaka was waiting from him in front of a door that and, without saying a word, they both walked side by side down the hall until they reached the last cell. Through its iron bars you could see six teenagers; five of whom stood up the second they caught a glimpse of silver hair and one, a blond boy, stayed seated with a bored look on his eyes.

The police officer was about to open the door when Kakashi stopped him.

“No. Just give me the key,” he ordered. Santa looked at him with a conflicted expression. Kakashi extended his hand, staring at him. The policeman hesitated for a second, but gave in, placed the key on his hand and left before Kakashi could say anything else.

Kakashi looked inside the cell and put his hands on his long coat’s pockets. The young group inside looked like hell, dirty and tired from spending the night detained in the small cell.

“Kakashi, we-” a brown haired girl tried to speak but the moment Kakashi nailed his eyes on her, she closed her mouth. Honestly, these teenagers had to be glad Kakashi was wearing an eye patch or his look would be able to pierce through them.

“You what, Tenten?” Kakashi asked after a long second of silence, raising one eyebrow. “All of you know what’s going on and have direct orders to not do stupid shit like this. Yet, here we are.”

Tenten swallowed and one of the boys, Kiba, clicked his tongue. Far in the back, Chōji couldn’t bring himself to look up from the floor and next to him Ino’s look was jumping from one Hellhound to another.

“You had to hear what those Eagles were saying. We had to do something about it! Defend our honor!” Rock Lee exclaimed loudly, grabbing the gray bars that separated him from the Scarecrow.

“I don’t care about a fucking explanation! Tenzō ordered you to not get close to them, and you get into a bar fight? Are you stupid or wasn’t the order clear?” Kakashi asked. His tone, despite of talking harshly, was monotone and bored. The fire that pumped through his veins was enough to scare the other Hellhounds. “And where the fuck was Neji?” he barked when no answer came.

“He had a strong headache and didn’t come with us,” Ino answered quietly. Kakashi sighed. Neji could’ve stop them from getting into the fight if he was there.

“We know you said to suck and swallow. But we had enough. The Eagles are getting cocky, you would’ve done the same if you heard them,” Shikamaru, who was leaning on a wall in the back, said in a low voice.

Kakashi took a deep breath, trying to keep the fire running through his veins from exploding. “If I say that you have to suck and swallow, you suck, swallow and say thank you for the meal,” Kakashi replied with a condescending smile drawn on his lips. “I don’t care if you get tired of cock, you do as I say. And you, Shikamaru, are supposed to be the smart one, you should know that not messing with the Eagles is the right move. I don’t care if they say that your mom ain’t pretty.”

“What if they say that they can’t wait for Sadie to be a little older so they could fuck her?” Shikamaru asked and everyone but Kakashi gasped in surprise. _‘Shikamaru! Stop,’_ Ino hissed, but the black haired seventeen year-old didn’t pay her any attention. “What if they said that killing her is going to be so pleasurable and the look on your face when you find out would be priceless? What if they thought that keeping her as a prostitute would be even better? And that’s just the begging. What would you do then? Would you suck and swallow?”

Kakashi’s posture didn’t change, he didn’t even flinch at the young boy’s words, even if they made the fire in his veins grow bigger than ever before, his killing intent almost palpable. The rest of the Hellhounds could feel it, and didn’t dare to move in case they drew attention, but Shikamaru held his gaze against Kakashi’s cold one as if it wasn’t a problem.

“I was wrong about you, Shikamaru. You are smart but you are green, young. Keep this behavior up and you won’t get anywhere. And, to answer your question, nothing. I would do nothing. If you don’t understand why, you don’t deserve Asuma’s praise.” 

“Scolding me only for being smarter than the rest of this idiots isn’t fair. I am smart, sure, but I’ll follow my friends anywhere, even if I know it’s better to let the Eagles talk. Blood is thicker than water,” Shikamaru said, quoting the Hellhound’s maxim at the end. Hellhounds were family, they came first no matter what.

Kakashi was about to reply when the blond boy sitting on one of the beds spoke.

“I am not a Hellhound. I don’t have to listen to this,” the boy stated as he stood up. Kakashi’s stare moved from Shikamaru to the boy’s sky blue eyes.

“You are right, Naruto,” the silver haired shrugged and got his hands out of his pockets. He opened the door and looked at the Hellhounds. “Out, we’ll talk outside,” Kakashi ordered and the teenagers stepped out of the cell.

Chōji was the las Hellhound to leave and Naruto followed, only to be stopped by Kakashi’s hand on his shoulder and pushed back inside.

“You are not a Hellhound, remember?” the silver haired said and closed the door again. “Don’t look at me like that, I’ll let you make a call.”

Outside the police station, the six young Hellhounds were standing in line against the building’s wall. Shikamaru was smoking and had his free hand in his pocket while Ino hissed something to him, scolding him for talking to Kakashi the way he did; the rest of them were in silence. As soon as Ino saw the silver haired gangster, she shut up.

Kakashi lighted a cigarette and stood in front of Shikamaru.

“Perhaps you don’t care about my orders, but you should think about your family,” he said to the black haired kid. He then backed off and look at the others. “And that goes to all of you. You have families that care about you and think I am responsible for your stupid actions. Sadly, because you are Hellhounds, I am, and I don’t appreciate you making me look bad or ruining my businesses.”

Right in that moment, a police officer stepped outside the station with a phone on her hand.

“Mr. Hatake?” she interrupted. “Um… this is for you,” the cop handed him the phone and went back inside.

Kakashi took the phone as he swallowed some smoke down. He didn’t have a mobile phone of his own, so people often had to go out of their way to reach him.

“Hello?” he said to the phone.

“Kakashi! It’s Tessa,” a feminine voice replied. Tessa, besides being a bookie, was in charge of arranging his schedule and help the Family with minor paperwork. At twenty three years old, she was incredibly smart and probably the most promising Hellhound. When Kakashi didn’t answer, she kept talking. “Iruka Umino called, I schedule a meeting an hour from now.”

“Who the fuck is Iruka Umino?” 

“Sadie’s teacher, I thought you knew. Anyways, you have to be at the school in an hour, she got into some trouble and it’s at your house now, Fang picked her up.”

Kakashi sighed loudly. “Tessa, what the…? Can’t anyone else take care of this?”

“I’m sorry, this teacher was quite insistent,” Tessa apologized. She could easily manage assassins, gangsters and cocky business man but she couldn’t handle a middle school teacher?

“Fine, I’ll be there,” he answered and hung up.

The gray haired took a hit at his cigarette and looked at the teenagers standing in front of him.

“Your parents don’t deserve to bury you before it’s time. Because that’s what is going to happen if you don’t obey my orders. Hellhound's are also family, and blood is thicker than water. So you have more blood than anyone could ever wish for. Respect your fucking privilege,” he almost barked.

“I… we are sorry, Kakashi,” Chōji mumbled.

“I know. You are dismissed, stay out of trouble,” Kakashi ordered and the Hellhounds started to leave. “Wait, Tenten!” he called.

“Yes?” The brown haired girl turned around and the rest kept walking.

“Go check on Neji, whatever he needs is on me.”

# \---

Kakashi couldn’t honestly remember how long it has been since he was inside a school, so he didn’t feel anything in particular as he walked its empty corridors with his hands in his pockets until he reached Sadie’s classroom, that had its door open.

“Ah, you must be Mr. Hatake,” a tanned man received him.

“In the flesh. Good afternoon,” the gray haired greeted without moving from the entrance.

“Umino, Iruka Umino,” the teacher introduced himself and approached him to shake his hand. Kakashi normally shook hands firmly, but noticed that Iruka’s shake was almost as strong as his. That alone said a lot to Kakashi about what kind of man he was.

“Oh, I know,” Kakashi smirked, taking a good look at the teacher. He was an inch or two shorter than him, his skin was tanned and his jaw, strong. His hair was as brown as his eyes and tied in a short ponytail. He was definitely attractive, Kakashi thought, but it really didn’t matter. Perhaps he felt that way because of the scar that ran across the bridge of Iruka’s nose. A man who knew how to shake a hand _and_ had a scar was always attractive. 

Iruka returned the smile. “Right. Well, come in, sit,” Iruka said and went to sit behind his desk.

Kakashi stepped inside the classroom, that had the walls covered in colorful drawings and posters too cheerful for his taste. He sat in a chair Iruka arranged in front of his desk and unbuttoned his coat. Kakashi then took a cigarette and held it in between his lips while he looked for a lighter.

“You can’t smoke here,” Iruka interrupted.

The gray haired met the teacher’s gaze with his uncovered eye and felt tension rise immediately. He seemed to hesitate for a few seconds, but he finally took the cigarette and put it away.

“Thank you,” Iruka smiled. “Sadie is doing really well in school, her grades are higher than ever and I also noticed that she’s more social now.”

“Now?” Kakashi inquired, raising an eyebrow. He thought Sadie got into trouble, why was she being praised?

“After his father’s death, I thought her grades were going to flop because it would be hard for her. But I guess I was wrong, I have never seen her more… alive.”

Kakashi nodded slightly. “She is a good kid,” he commented.

“She really is,” Iruka smiled, “since you adopted her, she found a way to explore her untapped potential. I always knew she was smart, but perhaps her living situation didn’t let her grow. Now I’m not completely sure if this school can keep up with her growth.”

“I am surprised to hear that you knew about her… living situation,” the gray haired replied.

“I don’t know what you heard about me, but I am a good teacher.” Iruka’s smile didn’t disappear from his face, although he was making a bold assumption Kakashi wasn’t comfortable with.

“I don’t doubt that,” he simply answered. “But wasn’t this meeting about some trouble Sadie got in?”

“Actually, yes. She got into a fight earlier today, as you may already know. She punched another kid, Tobias, on the face, I am sure he is going to come back with a bruised eye.” The teacher paused for a moment to study Kakashi’s face, but he was as expressionless as when he first saw him. Normally, the parent’s expression would indicate Iruka what they wanted to hear and where to take the conversation, but with Kakashi he didn’t have a clue. The man sitting on the other side of his desk wasn’t a parent, after all. “A friend of Tobias jumped in and hit her, so Sadie hit him too and that’s when another teacher saw them and stopped it,” he continued, “as I said before, Sadie is a smart, kind kid. It’s out of character for her to get in a fight, I just wonder if there is something going on that could affect her like this…”

Kakashi got a faint idea. Pakkun’s death hadn't sat well on Sadie, that was probably why she was acting out. Although he still thought that that kid Tobias had to say something to set her off, she wouldn’t hit him just because.

“What did that kid say to her?” he asked, but his tone was so severe it came out more like a demand.

Iruka cocked a brow. “Does it matter what Tobias said? This behavior cannot be tolerated, not even if someone annoyed her.”

“So, teaching kids to stand up for themselves isn’t something this school does?” Kakashi asked calmly.

“Sadie has to learn anger management now, or high school is going to be difficult for her. Let alone life,” Iruka replied, although not as calm.

“What are you trying to say, Mr. Umino?”

Iruka let out a small breath. “The school doesn’t endorse this behavior." 

“I understand that. Still, my question remains unanswered,” Kakashi pushed, interlacing his fingers over his stomach, already knowing where this was about to go.

“We want what’s best for her and this isn’t it. I hope you can talk to Sadie before getting into fights becomes normal for her,” Iruka answered politely.

“And what suggests that it’s actually going to become normal?”

Iruka sighed and leaned back on his chair. “What you do for a living isn’t exactly a secret in this city, Mr. Hatake. Older students that are also Hellhounds had showed the same behavior. Today, some of them were absent and I think we both know why. I wouldn’t want to see Sadie follow suit.” 

The gray haired hummed lightly. “So, this meeting isn’t about Sadie acting out. It’s about you not being comfortable with Sadie’s _current_ living situation,” he said, nailing his visible eye on the teacher.

“No, it’s about Sadie’s future,” Iruka replied, and found himself at a loss of words at the gray haired’s shift of energy. Sure, Kakashi hadn’t moved from his chair and his tone of voice was as bored as before, but there was something, maybe in the way he looked at Iruka, that made him feel small.

“Do you say that to all your students’ guardians or is it just me, then?” Kakashi questioned him.

Iruka cleared his voice with a little cough, getting his strength back together. “I say this to all the guardians that should pay more attention to their child,” he answered.

“Sadie is a brilliant student and was never mean, you said it yourself. This _behavior_ won’t repeat itself and I really don’t appreciate it when you imply that it’s my fault." 

“I never-” 

“I think that’s all, Mr. Umino,” the silver haired interrupted the teacher. He stood up and buttoned his coat up as he spoke. He then extended his hand to shake Iruka’s, who took it although his shake wasn’t as strong as before. 

Kakashi’s hand, on the other side, was firmly gripping Iruka’s as he spoke, maybe a little harder than necessary. “If you think you know so much, maybe being careful with the things you say isn’t a bad idea,” he warned before letting go of his hand. “I am glad you filled me in, anyways. Good afternoon,” he added as he left.

Such a shame when bold, hot man like Iruka turned out to be so idiotic they ruined the fun.

# \---

“I need to take a piss!” Kakashi exclaimed over the music.

“Go to the bathroom behind the bar, it’s cleaner and no one will bother you,” Zabuza offered, his golden tooth shining as the club lights hit his wolfish smile. The gray haired nodded and chugged down the whiskey from his glass.

The crowd moved aside as he walked through the club, letting him through. It was a perk of being Kakashi Hatake; otherwise, he would’ve to push people to get to the bathroom.

“Mr. Hatake, I didn’t expect to see you here,” Kakashi heard when he came out of the bathroom stall. He looked at the door and right in front of it was standing Iruka Umino, Sadie’s teacher. And Iruka was right, it was definitely strange to meet him in a club bathroom reserved for staff at one in the morning. But well, weirder things had happened.

The gray haired held back a sigh. “Me neither. What brings you around?” he asked politely.

“Teachers go out too, you know?” Iruka replied. It had been two days since their meeting at the school and Kakashi had forgotten about Iruka’s bold, tenacious attitude. His brown eyes sparked with youthful mischief and the silver haired found himself finding it attractive. Or maybe it was that black slightly see through shirt the teacher was wearing, very different from his work attire, much more revealing.

“I meant to this bathroom,” Kakashi pointed out, taking a good look at the teacher.

Iruka’s cheeks reddened slightly. “Oh, I am friends with the bartender and he let me use this one. Club bathrooms can be nasty.”

“Right. Well, have a good night, Mr. Umino,” Kakashi said and took a step forward, but Iruka didn’t move to let him pass, so they ended up standing with only a few inches in between them.

“I am sorry,” the brown haired blurted out. “About the meeting a few days ago, I am sorry about how it went down,” he clarified.

Kakashi nodded slowly before answering. “So, you are not sorry about what you said but how you said it,” he asked raising an eyebrow. Iruka winced slightly. 

“I just want what’s best for my students, that won’t change,” the brown haired answered hesitantly. So, Iruka still thought Kakashi was going to ruin Sadie’s life.

Kakashi closed the distance between them, cornering Iruka against the door as he placed a hand next to the teacher’s head, leaning on it. Kakashi licked his bottom lip before biting it as he inspected Iruka’s face, who let out a breath at the sight of the gangster.

“Are you looking for trouble, Mr. Umino?” Iruka could feel Kakashi’s breath caressing his skin as he spoke, it almost made him shiver. And Kakashi’s gray eye on him felt heavy, like steel trying to pierce his skull. If he wasn’t in trouble before, he was definitely in it now. 

Even if Kakashi’s solely presence was enough to make him shake, Iruka’s expression didn’t let the silver haired know. The teacher looked at Kakashi defiantly in the eyes and that took almost too much strength to even talk, so he shook his head as a small smug smile appeared on his face. Maybe his energy was a little terrifying, but, if you asked Iruka, it was in a very hot way. Him being as attractive as he was and having his face as close as it was didn’t help at all.

“Then what is it that you want?” Kakashi almost whispered, smiling as smugly as Iruka.

Iruka closed the small space distancing them and locked his lips with Kakashi’s, who kissed him back for a second before breaking it. The hand he wasn’t leaning on grabbed Iruka’s jaw as his gray eye looked at his lips.

“You are quite bold, aren’t you?” Kakashi asked, the smile gone from his face. 

Iruka’s smile got wider before he pushed the arm supporting Kakashi’s weight against the door, making the gray haired fall towards him. But Iruka caught his waist and seized the momentum to switch positions, making Kakashi’s back hit the wall.

“Maybe I’m just stupid,” Iruka smiled and Kakashi grabbed his face with both hands to kiss him so aggressively that their teeth crashed together.

The bruising kiss quickly made their pulses race as their tongues rolled over each other. Kakashi’s hands slid around Iruka’s waist and slammed his body against his own, and then his hand lowered to grab Iruka’s ass.

Kakashi sucked Iruka’s bottom lip into his mouth, and Iruka unsuccessfully muffled a groan. There was something between them that neither Kakashi nor Iruka could explain; how their tongues explore each other, how their bodies fitted together, how they felt every reaction on the other’s bodies… It felt like they had done this before.

“Let’s go to my place,” Iruka breathed, feeling Kakashi’s hardness against his.

“I’ve got some business to take care of, meet you there in twenty?” the gray haired replied and his smug smile appeared on his face again when he saw Iruka frown. “I am sure you can keep yourself entertained." 

Iruka smiled back, a wicked shine in his eyes. “I think I can manage,” he purred, and nipped at Kakashi’s neck. “Can _you_ finish your meeting while you picture me?” he murmured against his skin in between kisses, “with my fingers opening myself?” he licked a stripe on Kakashi’s neck, “waiting for your cock inside me?”

Kakashi grabbed him by the neck and kissed him, the tongue inside Iruka’s mouth making nasty promises.

“Do you know where I live?” Iruka panted, out of breath due to the kiss.

A raised eyebrow joined Kakashi’s smug smile. “What do you think?” he asked, but didn’t wait for an answer, he just kissed the surprise out of Iruka. And, when the kiss was over, he left without another word.

Kakashi was true to his words, twenty minutes later he was knocking Iruka’s door, who opened the door wearing nothing but a pair of tight black jeans.

There wasn’t much talking, Iruka was so hot and bothered by the time Kakashi arrived he just grabbed him by his leather jacket and kissed the air out of him. The demanding kiss coaxed Kakashi to open up, letting Iruka’s tongue taste whiskey and cigarettes inside his mouth.

As needy and demanding Iruka’s attitude was, having Kakashi pinned against his apartment’s door, Kakashi seemed to enjoy it. He placed a hand on the back of Iruka’s neck and kissed him deeper as he shoved their hips together.

Iruka broke the kiss and let out a hard breath against Kakashi’s neck, which smelled like cologne lost in a sea of cigarette smoke. The scent was so manly and sexy, Iruka got even more turned on. He could feel Kakashi’s erection against his body, so he got on his knees and unbuckled the belt that kept it away impatiently. 

Iruka could feel Kakashi’s smirk as he took him into his mouth, but he didn’t care. There was some power hidden in sucking the most dangerous man’s cock and the adrenaline it sparked was almost too much. Kakashi’s hand fisted around Iruka's brown hair as the teacher's tongue swirled around his cock. Soon, Iruka found out that Kakashi was rather quiet during sex, it didn’t matter how good his mouth felt around the gangster.

It was a challenge Iruka gladly accepted. He started to bob his head faster, making Kakashi’s grip get tighter. Iruka hummed with Kakashi’s erection still in his mouth, and the gray haired let out a breath. Pleased to get at least a reaction, Iruka hummed again and Kakashi rocked his hips forward to meet his pace. 

Kakashi’s gray eye was looking at him, at his cock disappearing behind those swollen red lips. When Iruka met his gaze, he pulled Iruka’s hair back to remove his head from his member.

“Stand up,” Kakashi groaned. Iruka was doing so when Kakashi grabbed him by the shoulders and slammed him against the wall and met his lips with his own, not letting Iruka recover some air.

The brown haired broke the kiss and Kakashi’s mouth went to his neck as his hands went to Iruka’s pants, his deft fingers undoing the fly. Iruka quickly took them off and caught Kakashi’s lips in a hungry kiss as he started to remove the other man’s leather jacket.

Kakashi took the jacket off, along with the white shirt underneath. Iruka nearly growled at the sight of the pale man’s body, that was firmer and more toned than what you could notice when he was clothed.

A smirk appeared on Kakashi’s face. “You don’t look so bad yourself,” he said in a husky voice. Iruka went for a rough kiss Kakashi returned eagerly while his hands ran over Iruka’s sides to finally find his way to the teacher’s ass.

Kakashi’s hand groped Iruka’s ass and a finger ghosted his entrance, making him shiver. “I could fuck you right here,” Kakashi rasped.

Iruka groaned louder than he would have liked to. “No, bedroom,” he breathed out, “you’re going to take me from behind.” 

The silver haired followed him to his bedroom, using lust as fuel to move his limbs and take his pants and underwear off. Kakashi was used to men expecting him to move, to dominate, to fuck the hell out of them. They were always submissive, asking him what he wanted, where and how. He never met someone like Iruka, who knew what he wanted and just took it. He wasn’t stupid as he said before, he was definitely bold. And that seriously turned Kakashi on.

Kakashi took the lube and condom Iruka handed him. Iruka on all fours also turned him on. The gray haired placed a lubed finger on Iruka’s entrance and pushed in, making the teacher moan in pleasure. And Kakashi noticed that Iruka was also true to his word, his hole quickly adapted to his fingers; he had prepped. A second and a third finger quickly joined, scissoring and making Iruka whimper in need.

“Damn, _fuck_ ,” Iruka panted when Kakashi found his prostate.

Kakashi smirked and swiftly rolled the condom over his shaft and squeezed more lube on it before lining up with Iruka’s entrance. He got in slowly until he was balls deep in him and he stayed still to let Iruka adjust, knowing he was rather big.

Iruka was panting beneath him, face pressing down on the sheets. “Move or I swear-”

He didn’t get a chance to finish the threat because Kakashi obliged immediately, thrusting into him setting a rather fast, rough pace that quickly got him panting too. His eyes fell to where they were joined, watching Iruka’s body take him greedily and he groaned at the sight.

Iruka’s pants began to get louder and Kakashi leaned to suck at his neck, making him moan loudly when Kakashi sank his teeth into his skin.

“Touch yourself for me,” Kakashi all but demanded when he got up again, without breaking the rhythm. The frantic pace combined with his strokes quickly got Iruka over the edge, grunts and curses spilling from the back of his throat.

Kakashi’s hand grasped Iruka’s hair and pulled back. Iruka almost couldn’t keep his eyes open from pleasure as he moaned and bit his bottom lip. “Fuck, don’t stop, I’m gonna cum,” he groaned. Kakashi wouldn’t dare to stop, he was close too and Iruka felt so good under him he wouldn't be able to stop even if he wanted to; he could already feel himself trembling as the pace became harder to maintain.

Iruka came all over the sheets with a loud moan Kakashi barely registered since he was close, oh so close. Once the brown haired man’s hand got away from his cock, Kakashi pressed his own hand on the small of Iruka’s back, making his hips sink in the mattress slowly so Kakashi could remain inside him and, once Iruka’s full body was pressed on the bed, he started to pound him even harder, rhythm long gone as he reached his own orgasm with a groan.

Then, Kakashi pulled out slowly and got rid of the condom while Iruka turned around to lay on his back as he watched the gangster leave the bedroom. Iruka took advantage of the moment to go to the bathroom and clean himself. When he returned, Kakashi was still naked but with a lit cigarette in his mouth next to the open window. Nothing like a smoke after sex.

“That was hot,” Iruka said as he fetched some boxers from his dresser and put them on.

Kakashi smirked at him and took a hit at his almost finished cigarette. “It definitely was, I wouldn’t mind if we did it again soon.”

“Me neither,” the brown haired smiled. “You know, those things will kill you,” he added after a second or two of silence.

Kakashi let out a breathy laugh, making some of the smoke get stuck in his throat so he ended up coughing instead. “See you around, _sensei_ ,” he replied and flicked the cigarette out the window after a last drag and before leaving.

# \---

Sadie was happily licking her ice cream as she held Kakashi’s hand. They were walking down the street, a block away from the bar and their home.

“Are you finally going to tell me what Tobias said, kid?” Kakashi asked, looking at her.

The little blonde made a face and looked at her dessert, then at Kakashi. “This ice cream isn’t a treat! It’s extortion!” she exclaimed, her big hazel eyes accusatory. 

Kakashi tried not to smile. “You are not answering the question.”

Sadie sighed and took a long look at the ice cream. “I don’t want it anymore, take it.”

“I don’t like sweets,” the man shrugged. They were now a few steps away from the bar.

“Tobias said that Millie’s face is stupid.”

“And?”

The little girl swallowed before confessing. “I said _he_ was stupid. And he said that, um… that at least he didn’t get his dog killed and wasn’t hell’s charity case…”

Kakashi’s hand froze around the doorknob. “Sadie-”

“I know,” she interrupted, “you buy me ice cream and make me do my homework and read jellyfish books with me because… I don’t know, I am _kid_ ,” she shrugged.

The gray haired smiled and pulled the doorknob. As soon as he did, he heard a light click. Kakashi froze once again, but this time, his shoulders tensed uneasily.

“Kakashi? What…?” Sadie asked, confused by the sudden tension.

The gangster took a deep breath and slowly let it out without moving his hand from the doorknob. He looked around the street and found it empty, so then he looked inside the bar through the door’s window. It was around five in the afternoon, so it was empty with the lights off but the sun hit on one single transparent thread. He didn’t have much time. Fuck, Sadie was there.

_Fuck._

“You are _kid_ , Sadie. You are _the_ kid, alright? But we’ll talk later because right now I need you to run as fast as you can in that direction, okay?” Kakashi asked calmly, pointing at his right.

“I don’t-”

“Sadie, _now_ , run,” he urged. 

The blonde girl nodded and started running, getting away from the bar and down the street. The ice cream forgotten, melting on the sidewalk. Fifteen feet away from Kakashi, she was no longer in front of the bar but the big old house next to it. That had to be far enough.

Kakashi took a deep breath, knowing that what was next would happen so quickly he probably wouldn't remember it after.

He then let go of the doorknob at the same time he sprinted off in Sadie’s direction. At the same exact moment Kakashi knocked Sadie on the floor and placed his body over hers protectively, the bar exploded with a full blast at his back. 

Sadie’s screams couldn’t be heard under the deafening noise of the blast. Kakashi could feel a piece of hot glass stabbing his calf and the fire behind them agonizingly hot as the explosion ceased and the bar caught on flames.

When the worst part of it was over, Kakashi stood up slowly, the sharp glass on his leg restricting his movement. A ringing noise was everything he could hear and his vision was blurred, but he could see the child laying on the floor.

“Sadie?” he asked and crouched down to pick her up. The blonde startled at his touch, and Kakashi was sure that it was because she couldn't hear him. He confirmed it when he saw trail of blood leaving her left ear.

Sadie moved in his arms to look at him. “Sadie, are you okay?” Kakashi asked again. The blonde looked at him, her eyes red from crying and her face confused, frowning as if she couldn’t understand him.

Kakashi took a look at her and, other than the blood on her ear and harmless scrapes all over, he didn’t see another injury. He hugged her closer to his chest and sat down on the floor slowly. He was hot, his clothes were disheveled, his leg was getting numb and all he wanted to do was held Sadie as she cried against his chest.

“Kid, can you hear me now?” he asked after a while.

Sadie sobbed and looked at him while she nodded. Kakashi let out a relieved sigh. Her lips were trembling as hard as her body when she spoke. “What was that?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, feedback is appreciated!<3


	3. Asuma Sarutobi

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Am I back? I am back. It feels nice, dare I say; and also, I am sorry for the delay. Well, go on, read the chapter. I really hope you like it!

Five minutes later, an ambulance and a fire truck arrived. Sadie was still shaking in Kakashi’s arms, even though he was holding her as tight as he could while he murmured soothing words in her hair, dirty with smoke and ashes.

When one of the paramedics approached them, Kakashi stoop up slowly.

“Is everything alright here?” the paramedic asked, helping Kakashi stand. The silver haired glared at the young man but leaned in his arm anyways when the glass embedded on his calf moved as he did, making him almost fall. Damn, he missed the numbing adrenaline.

“Can I take a look at that?” the man asked, looking at his leg.

“No, just give me a first aid kit. Let’s go the ambulance, she needs medical attention,” Kakashi ordered with a firm voice and stare. Even if he looked disheveled, with his slick suit now unkempt, his silver hair looking almost black because of the smoke and little cuts over his face, he still managed to command respect.

The paramedic nodded and lead the way to the ambulance, and Kakashi sat on the back of it, with Sadie still curled up against him.

“Hey, Sadie… Kid, it’s okay, you are okay,” Kakashi said trying to let her go, but Sadie wouldn’t have it. “Let me go so this man can take a look at you, he can take care of your injuries,” he added when he noticed that her t-shirt was a little bloody. Sadie shook her head energetically and pressed her body against Kakashi’s again.

“I like your name very much, Sadie. Mine is Iō, hello,” the paramedic greeted with a soft, calming voice. Sadie lifted her head and looked at him. “Your tummy must be hurting, isn’t it?” he then asked, pointing at the blood stain on her shirt. The girl nodded slowly, struggling to meet his eyes. “Okay, I can take care of that, would you let me?”

Iō´s smile was warming, and as calming as his look, but Sadie hid her face in Kakashi’s chest again and fisted his shirt with force.

“The other paramedic, is she a woman?” Kakashi asked.

“What? Uh, no… He is a guy,” the paramedic replied.

Kakashi nodded slowly. “Okay, then call another ambulance, I want a female medic now.” 

“I’ll see what I can do. In the meantime, you two should get some oxygen,” Iō replied.

Before Kakashi could say anything, Kurenai appeared out of nowhere. She was wearing a long coat, almost as black as her hair, and a concerned look on her face. She lived five blocks away from the bar, so she must’ve either heard the explosion or saw the smoke and came running right away.

“Is Sadie…?” she began but stopped when he saw the blonde in Kakashi’s arms, and let a long relieved sigh in response. “Thank God,” she murmured.

“Kurenai, great. The ambulance should have what you need to take care of the kid,” Kakashi said as he placed the kid on the woman’s arms.

Kurenai looked at him, scanning his body with those red eyes of hers before finally nodding and getting into the ambulance to take care of Sadie.

“Hey, what…?” the paramedic tried to intervene.

“You’ll let her do what she needs to do, and don’t go near the girl,” Kakashi cut the man off, “now, first aid kit please.”

The paramedic nodded once again and looked for what Kakashi was asking. 

Kakashi stood on the opposite street and, with a sharp breath, he pulled the glass out of his leg. Turned out that the wound wasn’t as deep as it felt, even if that’s what all the blood indicated, but maybe he should get stitches. That’d have to wait, cleaning it and some bandages had to be enough for the moment.

Maybe he could’ve done a better job if he wasn’t listening to Sadie asking for him.

“Man, what the fuck happened here?” was the phrase, or the voice, that made Kakashi look up again from his wound.

A few meters away and approaching him, Asuma and Gai were looking at him with a deep frowns. Behind them, there was a definitely a view. 

The bar he owned, where the Family worked and spent most of their days in, had fire coming aggressively out of the windows and door creating a heat that could make you believe it was already summer, while black, dense smoke got lost in the sky above. There was so much of it, Kakashi could barely see the second and third floor, where he lived with Sadie.

Right in front of it, a bunch of firefighters were trying to do their job and behind them, the blinding lights of the firetruck made everything even redder. And on his left, there was the pristine white ambulance were Sadie was being taking care of.

“Asuma, Gai, finally,” Kakashi spoke, returning his attention to the other Hellhounds.

“Kurenai called us, we arrived as soon as we could. You look like you are going to pass out. And where is Sadie? Is she okay?” Gai asked.

“Ambulance and yes, Kurenai and the paramedics are looking after her. And I look just fine, thank you,” the silver haired replied but he then started coughing, which refuted what he had just said. Before Gai could make a comment about it, he talked again. “Gai, I need you to talk to the firefighters and take care of this mess.”

“Sure thing, and I’ll find out who did this right away.”

“Who did this? The fucking Eagles did! This is no mystery here, or am I missing something?” Asuma intervened.

“I am not one hundred percent sure, they don’t have a solid motive,” Kakashi replied.

“A little over a week ago, the kids got in a fight with some Eagles at a bar, and without a doubt won. You had to pick them up from the police station, Kakashi, while the Eagles landed at the hospital. That is provocation.” 

“We beat up some of them and they blow up our bar? That is literally blowing things out of proportion, Asuma,” Gai opined.

“They killed Pakkun for ignoring a warning, they could’ve done this,” Asuma insisted.

“Yeah, the Eagles are most likely behind this, but there is a very slim chance that they aren’t. So, we are going to investigate a bit, that’s it. Gai is in charge of that,” Kakashi said, putting the subject to rest.

“Well, I’m going to talk to the firefighters,” Gai announced and, right before leaving, he added, “Kakashi, don’t do anything stupid.”

Because Gai was gone the second after, all Kakashi could do to complain was roll his eyes.

“Okay, Asuma, we need to set a meeting with the Eagles for tomorrow morning. It’s time to negotiate,” Kakashi said to his friend.

“Is that a good idea? We don’t negotiate when in disadvantage, and clearly-” Asuma pointed at the ruined bar- “we are.”

“No, we don’t. That’s why I need you to call in Tessa, Shikamaru and Neji first. I want them to figure out what can we do to get ahead of the Eagles, with the help of as many Hellhounds as they want. Supervise that with Genma and Tenzō, and fill them in about everything,” the Scarecrow ordered.

“Sure thing, boss.”

“Smile more and I’ll think you are excited, Asuma.”

Asuma’s smirk got a little bigger as he lit a cigarette. “It’s been a long time since we got in a fight,” he shrugged and offered Kakashi a smoke.

“If I wasn’t mad as hell, I’ll be smiling too. Just don’t tell Gai,” Kakashi said as he took a cigarette.

They smoked silently, looking at the flames coming from the building in front of them come to a halt. Then, Kakashi put out his cigarette on the ground.

“Okay, I’ll go now. See you tomorrow morning for the meeting,” he said.

“Wait!” Gai’s voice interrupted. He was arriving when he heard that. “Kakashi, you can’t leave.” The silver haired raised his eyebrows as his only response. 

“Come on, Gai, we have work to do,” Asuma intervened.

The tall black haired man ignored him, his eyes still on Kakashi’s. “You can’t leave Sadie like this, she is a child.”

In the back, Kakashi saw Kurenai approach them too, probably to back Gai up.

“We have work to do,” Kakashi repeated Asuma’s words and turned around to leave.

“Gai is right, Kakashi. When Pakkun was killed, you left too. Sadie doesn’t need us, she needs you,” Kurenai tried to stop him. 

Kakashi did turn around to face his friends then. Gai’s eyes had an intense look on them, framed with his black bushy brows to make him even more intimidating. Kurenai’s eyebrows were raised and his arms were crossed. Asuma’s hard stare was directed to the two of them, clearly Sadie wasn’t his priority.

“My fucking bar just blew up! With half of my house! Do you think I have time to keep an eye on Sadie? She is a strong kid, she will be fine. Besides, she has you, Kurenai, to take care of her. So I’ll fucking go, I don’t particularly care what you think,” Kakashi barked, making a few heads turn. He didn’t care, his wild eyes were focused on someone else and his jaw was so clenched it almost hurt. He felt his hands curl into fists as control started to slip away.

“Why me? Because I am a woman?” Kurenai inquired with a cold tone, “I have been doing your dirty work for a long time, Kakashi, don’t act as if I have a nurturing bone in my body.”

“Yes because you are a fucking woman, okay?” Kakashi coldly replied before turning to Gai and Asuma, “what are you looking at? You have work to do!”

“This is a mistake, Kakashi,” Gai said before leaving with Asuma.

“Tell me you aren’t serious, Kakashi, or I’ll walk away from everything right this second,” Kurenai threatened with her arms crossed over her stomach once they were as alone as they could get in the middle of the street.

“It’s too late to walk away, Kurenai. And yes, you are on Sadie duty because you are a woman and that alone, not because you are weak or whatever misogynistic thing you’re thinking about. Sadie was abused by her father, and finds female company more soothing in times like this, do I really have to say this out loud after all this time? You know that, so fucking do your job and let me do mine,” the silver haired replied.

Kurenai’s blood red eyes scanned him a few times before uncrossing her arms. “Fine, but I have one more thing to say,” she said with a knowing look.

Kakashi raised his eyebrows, he knew that look. “Did you have a dream?” he asked, getting closer and almost whispering.

“Yes, about the meeting with the Eagles. It was very confusing, so I don’t know a lot this time, but Genma gets hurt. Badly,” she quickly explained, “the Eagles have snipers, two of them, maybe more. It will go sideways, you can’t be there.”

“Okay, thank you for the information,” Kakashi nodded slowly.

“Also, not bringing Gai is a mistake, he is your best negotiator after all,” the black haired woman added.

“I trust Asuma can handle it. Besides, that’s you talking, not the dream.”

Kurenai bit her lower lip and nodded slowly. “I should get back to Sadie.”

“Kurenai?” he stopped her. The black haired woman turned around and faced him again. Kakashi took a deep breath and felt his body relax with it. “Even after everything you’ve been through, you still have a nurturing bone in your body. That’s not weakness, it’s the opposite.”

Kurenai’s eyebrows knitted together in concern. “Are you dying tonight? Is this supposed to be some kind of goodbye?”

“What? No, why would you say that?”

The woman let out a laugh that couldn’t be helped. “Oh, you scared me there, don’t say shit like that,” she replied.

“Take the fucking compliment, would you?” Kakashi smiled.

# \---

“Kakashi?” Iruka asked when he opened the door and saw the gangster standing behind it. The man looked wrecked, his suit was tattered, his hair was dirty with ashes and his face had a few superficial cuts. Iruka tried to keep a smile from pursing his lips, but he failed drastically. 

Only Kakashi could pull off that look. 

“You look like hell.”

“Wouldn’t be a Hellhound if I didn’t,” Kakashi replied.

Iruka couldn’t say anything else because right after Kakashi spoke, the silver haired gangster leaned in and caught his lips in a bruising kiss. It hit Iruka with so much force, he stumbled back a little but grabbed Kakashi’s shirt so ground him, which only made the other man kiss him even deeper. Kakashi was devouring Iruka as if he hadn’t eaten in a week, and if the teacher had anything in his mind, it vanished as Kakashi’s tongue explored his mouth.

A hand traveled down Iruka’s body and grabbed his ass with a squeeze that made him break the kiss with a surprised yelp.

“Wait,” Iruka whispered, but Kakashi was on his neck a second later, not waiting at all. Right then, Iruka noticed that Kakashi had a black garment bag over his back, held by the hand that wasn’t all over him. He also noticed that they were still standing on the hall and not inside his house.

He was soon distracted by whatever Kakashi was doing to his neck that made his knees weak and his eyes want to disappear behind his skull.

“Kakashi, please, wait,” Iruka managed to say.

When the silver haired man stopped his ministrations on Iruka’s body, the latter man cursed himself for making him stop. He wished sex couldn’t wait.

“Is something wrong?” Kakashi asked, stepping away from Iruka’s personal space.

Iruka moved aside and signaled Kakashi to get inside the apartment. Once they were both inside and the door was closed, Iruka got closer to the other man and ran his fingers through the messy silver hair.

“You are bathed in ashes, and probably injured. We should take care of that first,” Iruka said, having noticed the small limp in Kakashi’s steps.

Kakashi smirked and kissed him again, this time not as aggressively but with a hint of roughness, only to break it a few seconds after. “That’s why I brought the bag. Thought I could have a shower here,” he explained and leaned in again to continue the kiss, “with you in it.”

“Mmm, I like that idea,” Iruka smiled and led the way to the bathroom.

The shower was warm, but not enough to make their skin tingle. That was coming from another heat source, probably the combination between Kakashi’s smart mouth and Iruka’s hand making them both impossibly hard.

Kakashi broke the kiss and lifted his face to the shower head, and let the water ran down as he panted with his eyes barely open. Iruka took in the image for a second -he definitely would be remembering that for a while- before seizing the moment to get on his knees. Even if Kakashi was expecting it, he couldn’t help to gasp when Iruka’s mouth took him in.

That reaction got Iruka going, he bobbed his head faster and soon Kakashi’s fingers curled around his wet hair, but didn’t pull, just accompanied the motion. With a little bit of suction, the right amount of pressure and a special swirl of his tongue, Iruka got Kakashi panting even harder and asking him to stand. But Iruka didn’t want to stand up, he wanted to keep sucking the other man’s cock, so he did. Iruka took Kakashi’s cock as far as he could and swallowed around him.

“Iruka, stand up.” That didn’t sound like a question anymore, it was more like a command.

Iruka looked up at Kakashi, whose dark eyes were staring firmly at him, and started to let the cock out of his mouth so painfully slowly Kakashi felt his soul was being suctioned off with it.

Kakashi’s hand left Iruka’s hair to cup his cheek. “You…" he tried to say, but his breath hitched and his words turned into a groan because Iruka had stopped right at the tip, keeping the head inside his mouth and swirling his tongue around it. “You are going to kill me.”

The brown haired let Kakashi’s cock out of his mouth with a pop and finally stood up.

Where did that bottle of lube come from? The question disappeared from Iruka´s head as soon as it came because Kakashi’s fingers were at his entrance, slowly coaxing him to open. When the fist finger went inside him, Iruka bit his lower lip but didn’t dare to break eye contact and, as it worked him open, his skin lit up hotter than the water around them. 

With the second finger, Iruka swallowed hard and felt his respiration become as unsteady as his knees felt. Kakashi’s eyes on him kept him from falling on his knees, they have been seeing each other almost every day for around a week and a half, but never maintained eye contact like that. The glass red eye was expressionless but in the gray one Iruka could see a dark wanton, the silver haired was enjoying the view and looking at Iruka as if he could record the moment.

The third finger made Iruka throw his head back into the shower, his heart was racing and he felt hazy. Kakashi took the hint and removed his fingers from Iruka, and lifted his hand to the younger man’s face. Without a word, Iruka sucked on the slender fingers, tasting himself even if the water from the shower helped cleaning them. 

Kakashi’s eye lit up at the sight and he couldn’t wait any longer. He ripped the package of a condom Iruka also didn’t have any idea where it came from and rolled it on as Iruka turned around and placed one leg on the edge of the bathtub.

“No,” Kakashi said when he saw what Iruka tried to do. The silver haired grabbed him by the waist and turned him around gracefully, he then let Iruka place his leg on the edge of the bathtub; Iruka’s back was left against the wall, the shower mostly rained on Kakashi then. Iruka let a frown furrow his eyebrow for a fraction of a second, but went it with.

Either way, it didn’t matter when Kakashi entered him. The Scarecrow set a fast pace from the beginning, pounding into Iruka who could only say _“oh fuck”_ and tilt his head back. He knew it was going to be over rather quickly, but the high of rough, frenetic sex was incomparable.

Iruka placed his hand on the back of Kakashi’s neck for stability, and the latter one took it as an invitation to nibble his neck without breaking the unforgiving pace. He was sucking on the skin so hard, Iruka knew he would leave hickeys. 

On a middle school teacher. With a groan, Iruka tried to tell him to stop but every word that tried to leave his mouth turned into moans. Kakashi’s thrusts were dissolving him into an incoherent mess.

“Kakashi,” he managed to say, but it came out more like another moan and not an order to stop the ministrations on his neck. Iruka gave up on talking and prayed to the lords that what he was about to do diddn’t get him killed.

He grabbed some hair at the base of Kakashi’s head and pulled the man off himself. Kakashi stopped everything he was doing so abruptly, Iruka almost groaned at the lost of rhythm. And then, still with his hand firmly fisted around the silver hair and Kakashi’s cock buried in him, Iruka felt his blood leave his body. 

Kakashi looked at him right in the eyes but instead of slipping away from him or yelling, he crashed his mouth against Iruka’s and resume the deep, frenetic pace from before. After recovering from the shock, Iruka returned the kiss with equal passion and wrapped both his arms around Kakashi.

Fire pooled low in Iruka’s abdomen, letting him know he was close, so he jerked himself off with one hand, while the other stayed in Kakashi’s hair. Everything suddenly cut to white noise while shockwaves traveled his body and he had his release.

When he came back to his body, he noticed Kakashi’s pace was still as fast, but way more erratic until he went tense and released a groan that sounded like music to Iruka. Kakashi then slip off the teacher and threw the condom somewhere Iruka hoped was the trash can.

Iruka was never so grateful to already be on the shower to cleanse after such draining activity. As they showered in silence, Iruka could see Kakashi was just as exhausted, but had a satisfied expression. Probably the same as his own.

The teacher was brushing his hair after putting on a pair of pants and the gangster was drying off with a towel when Iruka saw the wound on the other’s calf.

“That’s bleeding,” he pointed out and looked for the first aid kit he kept in the bathroom without waiting for an answer.

Kakashi wrapped the towel low around his waist and sat down on the toilet as he looked at it. “Ah, I guess it is.”

Iruka sat on the floor and examined the injury. It looked like something had been inserted in his leg, and taken off without care. “You’ll need stitches.”

“Can you do it?”

“I… yes, I think I can.” He didn’t sound very sure, but it was apparently enough for Kakashi, who didn’t reply nor move.

The younger man got to work. He had never really stitched someone up, but he took some advanced first aids classes a while ago so he had the theory somewhere in his head.

He was halfway through it and Kakashi hadn’t said anything, nor reacted to the needle going through his skin. Iruka found it odd, until he remember some people may pass out. So, he looked up to check on Kakashi, but only to find the gangster with his back against the wall with his arms crossed and looking down at him, but his face seemed… relaxed? The gangster looked like he was about to fall asleep on purpose instead of fainting.

“What happened?” Iruka asked, “only if I may know.”

“Flying glass to the calf,” the gangster answered. His deep voice roamed around the bathroom, sounding as calming as he looked. Iruka opened his mouth but Kakashi answered the unsaid question before he could vocalize it. “Bomb on my bar and house.”

Iruka’s hands froze with the needle inside the silver haired’s skin. He had to swallow down before he could continue. “Is Sadie safe?”

“Yes, but don’t expect her in school tomorrow.”

The stitching was done with that words, and Iruka started to put the tools away. He was placing the kit back into its place when he spoke again.

“Will she be safe?”

Kakashi let out a sigh. “You can’t help yourself, can you?”

“Excuse me?”

“I know you believe me not to be a good guardian, but you can’t play the teacher card when I’m sitting naked in your bathroom.”

Iruka placed his hands on his hips. “How about the human card?”

Kakashi looked at him with his eyebrows lazily lifted and a bored look. “Human card?”

“Any human could see that there are better places to raise a child,” the brunet said in a soft tone so it didn’t sound as offensive, “one where there aren’t bombs involved.”

“Is that all? Have you said your peace?” the gangster asked as he stood up.

Iruka saw Kakashi go to the living room, looking for the bag with his clothes, and followed him. “Kakashi, I just… I mean, you can do whatever you want but there’s a kid involved in all of this now, don’t you think about that?”

The taller man stopped the motion of putting pants for a moment, and resumed after glaring at the other. “Don’t I think about that? It’s everything I think about!” Kakashi raised his voice and took two steps towards Iruka. “You have a lot of made up ideas about me, Iruka, but the truth is that you don’t know me, so I would appreciate it a lot if you stopped judging me.”

“It’s not a secret what you do for a living, Kakashi. Ask anywhere you go, and they will tell you a lot about the Scarecrow,” Iruka, who hadn’t move from his spot, replied.

“If you believe anything you hear on the streets, you are far more naïve than you seem.”

“You’ve just told me about a bomb, Kakashi. A bomb! And Sadie was there, anything could’ve happened to her. I just care about her.”

Kakashi looked at him without saying anything for a second. There was no particular expression on his face other than slightly puckered brows. “Why are you sleeping with me, Iruka?”

“Why am I…? What does that have anything to do with this?”

“It has everything to do.”

Iruka chuckled bitterly. “Have you seen yourself in a mirror? Are you going to tell me that you didn’t just have a good time in the shower?”

The gangster took another step forward into Iruka’s personal space. He then cupped the teacher’s cheek with a hand, brushing the thumb over his lips and tilting his head up, and leaned in even closer. Iruka hated him for a moment, hated the fact that the men knew the effect he had on him, hated the goosebumps that adorned his skin when the silver haired was close like that. But mostly, Iruka hated the look on Kakashi’s eyes, savage and daring.

No, that wasn’t it. What Iruka hated was that he could see the warmth and tenderness beneath.

“Can’t we just keep those good times?” Kakashi whispered, the wind of his words caressing Iruka’s skin.

Iruka closed the space between them to kiss Kakashi. On that moment, he despised that he wanted to melt with the kiss, that nothing else matter as long as the taller man held him.

Tanned hands found his way around pale skin while the kiss evolved into one far more passionate and desperate. Kakashi’s hands traveled down to the rim of Iruka’s pants and stayed there getting warm.

“Wait, um… I am a little sore, but we can do anything else,” Iruka said breaking the kiss.

“I am not,” Kakashi replied and kissed him again as if nothing happened.

But Iruka broke the kiss and placed a hand on Kakashi’s chest to keep him from resuming the kiss. “What? You… receiving?”

“Not if you aren’t comfortable with it,” the silver haired man replied, furrowing his brows slightly.

Iruka couldn’t help to smile, he had barely refrained from chuckling, and raised his eyebrows in awe. “Me, fucking the great Kakashi Hatake? Are you serious?”

Kakashi didn’t find the situation nearly as funny as Iruka did, which was clear in his stare and the way he let Iruka go and took a step back. “I fail to see what’s so hilarious about it. Isn’t it clear that I like men?”

But the brown haired only smiled more. “No, no, it is. I just thought-”

“That’s the problem with you, Iruka. You think a lot, but don’t want to know much.” Kakashi’s arms were crossed, and his stare became something like a glare. The teacher wasn’t smiling then.

Iruka was about to reply when the ring of his phone interrupted his thoughts.

“You should take that,” Kakashi broke the silence.

“It can wait.”

“I don’t think so.”

Iruka looked at him confused, but still went to pick it up. “Hello? Ah… Yes, he is… Wait a second,” he spoke. He then turned to face Kakashi and extended his arm to give him the phone. “It’s for you.”

“Yes?” Kakashi said when he picked the phone up.

“Hey, Kakashi, we-” It was Asuma’s voice.

“This line isn’t secure, give me a few minutes and I’ll call you back,” the gangster interrupted and hung up. He handed the phone back to Iruka and picked a shirt from the bag.

Iruka saw the man dress again in one of his numerous expensive suits with the phone on his hands. “Kakashi, can we-?”

“No. But if you are ever ready to stop judging me, hit me up.”

And then, he left.

# \---

A block away from Iruka’s apartment, there was a place where Kakashi could buy a burner phone and call Asuma back while smoking a cigarette. 

“Asuma, what’s up?”

“The kids have a good plan. Danzō’s accounting books are burning as we speak,” Asuma replied.

Kakashi took a hit and nodded, not that his friend could see. “They probably have it backed up in some computer.”

“Neji is on it. Meanwhile, some Hellhounds are roughening up a bunch of pit bosses.”

Neji, Tessa and Shikamaru knew what they were doing, not that Kakashi expected less from them. Pit bosses were something like the managers in a casino, they controlled the process of the games as well as all the dealers and controllers and if a dispute occurred at a gambling table, they were the arbitrators. Pit boss was one of the leading positions in a casino, but it wasn’t high enough that the Eagles would be forced to strike back so severely. Plus, burning the accounting books and stealing their information would give them some leverage on the trade happening the next morning.

“Good job,” was Kakashi’s only praise. “How did you get the other number? How did you know where I was?”

Asuma cleared his voice. “Ah… Gai.”

“Tell him to fuck off,” Kakashi replied as he inhaled some of the cigarette’s smoke.

“Nah, I know better than getting between you two.”

“You are wiser than you appear, Asuma Sarutobi.”

# \---

Through his rifle’s scope, Kakashi could clearly see Asuma, Gai and Tenzō enter the tall building. A few minutes later, he saw them enter the ninth floor, which had its walls and floor painted white and was completely empty; except for a long white table with a man sitting on one side and two other standing behind him protectively. 

“Genma, do you have eyes on them?” Kakashi asked. The five Hellhounds were communicated trough earpieces Genma supplied. This way, Genma could hear his question even if he was in another building with a rifle of his own.

“Yup, you?” Genma replied.

“Affirmative.”

“Oh, so formal,” the brown haired joked.

Kakashi rolled his eyes and focused on what was happening. The head of the Eagles sat straight, with his legs crossed and his hands resting on his knee. He was wearing a white shirt and dressing pants, and his black cane with a gold handle was resting against the table. If not for the cane, the permanent harsh stare, or the many wrinkles on his serious face, you could’ve easily mistaken him for someone far younger. But the old man had strength both in his body and presence, so much it made age indistinct. 

The other three Hellhounds were sitting on the opposite side of the table as the Eagles, with Asuma on the middle.

“Ah, Asuma Sarutobi, what a surprise to see you,” the head of the Eagles greeted.

“I wish I could say it was a pleasure to see you, Danzō Shimura, but it never really is,” Asuma replied, looking relaxed in his chair.

“Where is Kakashi? I heard he’s preferring the company of man these days,” Danzō asked.

The old Eagle sat right in the center of the Scarecrow’s scope, it could be so easy to just pull the trigger on this asshole.

“And I heard you prefer them underage,” Asuma clapped back. 

Kakashi let out a quiet sigh. _Damnit, Asuma_. Sure, Danzō Shimura was a bastard but they had to play it cool if they wanted the Eagles off their backs. Accusing their leader of pedophilia, even if it wasn’t a well-kept secret, wasn’t their best move. Asuma’s approach was a little more aggressive than what Kakashi would’ve preferred, but he chose him to lead the meeting, he trusted his friend knew what he was doing.

Danzō’s look hardened a second, making the whole room freeze until he replaced it with a stifled laugh. 

“Well, we aren’t here to discuss pointless rumors, are we?” the Eagle said.

Asuma smiled and looked for something inside his leather jacket. When the two Eagles behind Danzō saw Asuma’s hand disappear, they quickly aimed at him with their guns. Everyone went still except Asuma, who kept searching his inside pockets.

“Easy there, boys. I’m just getting a cigarette,” Asuma calmly said, showing the cigarette to the Eagles and placing it on his mouth nonchalantly as if there weren’t any guns pointing at him.

Then, Kakashi heard Genma through the comms.

“Kakashi, found one.”

“Where?”

“Light blue building, on the rooftop, two and a half, almost three o’clock,” Genma said.

“Mine or yours?” Kakashi asked. Genma was in a different building with a different view that didn’t match his.

“Yours, your three o’clock.”

Kakashi looked for the Eagle sniper with Genma’s orientation and found him easily. The problem was that he was in a hard place to reach from Kakashi’s position, too far back and too high.

“Genma, that one is yours-”

“They made me,” Genma interrupted.

“We aren’t looking for trouble, don’t shoot unless he shoots you,” Kakashi ordered.

“Wait, he is not aiming at me anymore… He is aiming at you.”

Kakashi shifted his attention to the conversation on the building in front of his. Danzō was in the middle of saying something.

“… so I thought it could be a goal we share, Asuma, knowing your relationship with your father. But instead, you are sitting on my chair like a man sits on a subway, smoking and making all kinds of demands.”

He wasn’t wrong about the way Asuma was sitting, legs spread and relaxed. As if the meeting didn’t decide his future.

“I am relaxed! Aren’t you relaxed, Danzō? We can solve this really easily, we both have something the other wants. It seems to me that you are the one making demands,” Asuma shrugged as he puffed some smoke.

The silver haired lost his interest quickly, they weren’t talking about why the hell the Eagles had a sniper aiming at him during a regular meeting. As Asuma said, this was supposed to be over quickly, it was an easy deal. Accounting books in exchange for freedom to operate their casino, peace for peace. Did the Eagles really want Kakashi dead or it was just an intimidation technique?

His eyes set on the Eagle sniper through the scope. _Murderer or intimidation technique? What are you?_ , he thought as he saw the end of the barrel pointed at him.

_Murderer… or intimidation technique?_

“Genma,” Kakashi called.

“Still here,” he heard trough the comms.

“Shoot, but not to kill.”

It didn’t matter _why_ that man was there, it only matter that he was. The Scarecrow wasn’t about to die there and neither he would let someone intimidate him.

“Copy.”

Fifteen seconds later, the man aiming at Kakashi rolled over in pain. His dark green jacket was quickly turning darker around his shoulder due to the blood emanating from it.

“Got him,” Genma said, sounding rather cocky.

“You could’ve hit his neck and kill him,” Kakashi commented as he saw the man struggle against his wound and try to reach his rifle to retaliate.

“I don’t miss,” the brown haired replied sounding even more arrogant.

Kakashi aimed as best as he could considering that his position wasn’t ideal, but he knew he wouldn’t miss. He just waited until the Eagle was aiming at him again before he pulled the trigger.

“Ka-” Genma began to warn him.

A second later, Kakashi’s bullet hit the man’s rifle, neutralizing it. The Eagle was out of the game.

“I’ve been hit!” Genma yelled on his ear, “ngh, fuck.”

“What? This guy didn’t do it,” the silver haired replied, looking at the enemy to make sure. The Eagle hadn’t done it, Kakashi never saw him pull the trigger and now his weapon was useless.

“No shit!”

“Is it lethal?” 

“Agh… fuck, fuck, fuck,” Genma cursed, most likely as he checked his wound out, “I don’t think so, no. Kakashi, is raining bullets over here and I can’t find him.”

The silver haired was already searching for the person who shot Genma, but whoever it was, it was well hid. 

“Found him, but he is way out of my reach, too high. Ten o’clock, glass windowed building,” Genma said after a few seconds. Kakashi noticed his heavy breathing, the wound must’ve been catching up to him. 

Genma was in a shorter building than him, his position wasn’t the best to deal with the threat. He still probably could have, as the brown haired was the best shooter Kakashi has ever seen, but it was more challenging with a gunshot wound.

“Take cover, I found the shooter,” Kakashi said when he did. The shooter was in the second to last floor of the building, he wore black and his hair was purple… No, _her_ hair was purple, it was a woman. “And it’s a she.”

Right that second, the purple haired Eagle made him. The end of her rifle aimed directly at Kakashi and, a few seconds later, a bullet fell three inches away from his left leg.

“Kakashi, I have a clear shot. I think I can do this,” Genma said trough the comms.

The Scarecrow saw trough the scope while she adjusted to shoot again, but fired his rifle before she could. The bullet landed on the window right over her head, making a small hole. He had to adjust as well.

“No, I want her. Go take care of your wound or you will bleed out,” Kakashi replied. Even through the comms, he could hear the pain in Genma’s voice. Kurenai said he was going to be badly hurt by a sniper, he hoped that he had made the right changes to make it not as bad.

Kakashi could almost enjoy a small fight like this. It was not unlike dancing, or flirting. Adjusting your style to another person, a move followed another. You had to think if you didn’t want to fall or hurt yourself, you had to think to land your shot. 

And so, they flirted. The Eagle’s second bullet grazed Kakashi’s hip, tearing his pants and making he hiss. He had one more shot left, he was sure the woman wouldn’t miss the next one. He aimed once again and pulled the trigger. The wind that accompanied the force of Kakashi’s bullet made the woman’s hair dance, but that’s all it did. 

_Fuck_. He missed. Kakashi rolled over, hoping to dodge the Eagle’s bullet. He heard it land where he was laying a second before. This was it. He grabbed his rifle again and aimed. With a deep breath in, he fired.

The Eagle’s rifle fell out the window moments later. Kakashi didn’t miss, the purple haired woman was disarmed. And then, she disappeared from the window. 

Kakashi stood up and ran down the stairs. The building where the purple haired woman was in was about six blocks away, maybe he could get there in time and catch her. Some answers about what the hell was going on would be nice.

There was a sting in Kakashi’s calf that was begging him to stop running and made him slower, but he ignored it as he crossed the streets dodging cars. He had forgot about his injurie from the blast the day before. One more block to go, he was almost there when a car abruptly stopped in the middle of the street not to hit him, but making him fall to the ground anyways as he tried to avoid it. He stood up as the angry driver yelled all kind of curses against him and kept running. 

Only to find out that he was late. The rifle, that should’ve fallen in the street, wasn’t anywhere to be seen. The Eagle must’ve taken it with her when she escaped, smart move if you asked Kakashi.

The Scarecrow let out a curse and payed attention to what was happening in the meeting while he walked back to get his rifle and get back into range so he could hear better. Later, he would come back to the building to see if he could retrieve any information at the scene, maybe a bullet casing or some hair.

“If all you want is this journalist dead, I guess we can do that,” Asuma was saying.

“I knew you would come to your senses,” Danzō replied.

“And you will let us be, we don’t want to hear about you ever again, and you won’t hear about us,” the bearded man added.

“We have a deal for now,” the head of the Eagles said. Kakashi could hear some noise and he guessed it was chairs moving, they were standing up. The meeting was over.

“Don’t forget I used to be an Eagle once upon a time, Danzō Shimura,” Tenzō intervened. His voice was deeper than usual, darker. “Hatake can turn your people against you, don’t underestimate him again. We have a deal for as long as we say we have one.”

“I hope we don’t see each other for a while,” Asuma ended the meeting.

# \---

It was late at night when Kakashi was sitting on an exterior longue chair on the rooftop of a ten floor building. The city lights sparkled as usual while a soft breeze cooled Kakashi’s face while the cigarette smoke warmed him again. He seemed relaxed enough, but his mind was working, going over the meeting he had in the afternoon with the Family about what went down that morning.

So Danzō Shimura wanted to be governor, Kakashi couldn’t say he didn’t see that coming. But the power-hungry Eagle was afraid of a simple journalist and he asked the Hellhounds to kill her. It seemed that the woman had enough information to put an article together that could tear Danzō’s reputation down; Kakashi didn’t know what that information was about but he had a few guesses, all of which ended with an open investigation on Danzō, which would lead him to jail. He wouldn’t be eligible as governor then, which was his ultimate goal.

Even if the Hellhounds had something to negotiate with, it was apparently not enough. Danzō tried to use Asuma’s broken relationship with his father, who was the current governor, but it didn’t work -the head of the Eagles would make a worse governor, in Asuma’s opinion. Danzō got pissed and said he would declare war if the Hellhounds didn’t do as he said. Consequently, the young Sarutobi ended up agreeing, the life of a journalist wasn’t a high price to pay for peace.

Danzō had every resource to do the dirty work himself, but probably didn’t want to involve the Eagles. Besides, that journalist was under another gang’s protection, the Lightnings. The latter ones were based on a different city two hours away, but it was known that the two gangs didn’t get along. The Hellhounds, on the other hand, were in good terms with them, so they could recover the journalist without making a mess and adding up to the rivalry.

A six pack of beer dropped on the coffee table next to Kakashi, abruptly pulling him from his thoughts. 

“For old time’s sake,” Asuma said as he sat down in the chair besides the silver haired.

Kakashi smiled and took a beer. “I’m more of a whiskey man these days.”

The bearded man smiled back as he took a sip of his beer and looked over the city. “Those days where we used to sneak in this building to drink cheap beer and take in the view are long gone, huh?”

“Yeah, we dreamed of owning the city, remember? What would those fourteen year old think about us now?”

Asuma’s eyes stayed in the ground were cars moved with hurry and people lived in those buildings with worries of their own, all small if you asked him. “That we made it, probably.”

Kakashi laughed and drank some more. He didn’t know about that, didn’t think it was true.

“You should be with Sadie,” Asuma commented without a particular tone.

“You sound like Gai.”

“He is right from time to time, what can I say,” the black haired man joked. He then lit a cigarette and took a sip of beer.

“I thought you believed that taking care of this mess was more important than taking care of her,” Kakashi said.

“Well, yes, but we have already negotiated with the Eagles, tomorrow we’ll discuss about how to make a deal with the Lightnings, which will be way easier.… The kid wasn’t a priority but the hard part is over, she needs you.”

Kakashi didn’t think the hard part was over. Sure, Genma got shot and his bar exploded almost killing him and Sadie but this… It felt like the beginning, not the end.

“When I adopted her, you said that she didn’t need me, that she’d be better off without us. I know you still believe that,” he said instead.

Asuma drank some more beer as if the answer were in the liquid. “Don’t get me wrong, I’ve grown to like the demon but… You have to take care of a lot of people, why add to that? Children must be protected, much like the king is protected by his kingdom, so that what we built can continue to carry on and prosper. Can we protect them? Is it fair to have my own kid’s heritage be a dangerous life like the one we are living right now?”

Kakashi nodded and put out his cigarette on the ashtray. They had already talked about it at the begging, even yelled at each other about it; he already knew what his friend thought, and vice versa. “So what? You don’t want to have kids ever?”

“I don’t know, Kakashi,” Asuma replied, “that’s different from adopting a six year old.”

“Different how?”

The black haired man sighed. “I guess I’d like to have a kid of my blood, to carry on with whatever legacy we are leaving them. We had it rougher growing up and we managed to be at least more civil than a bunch of people we grew up with. Drinking in rooftops at fourteen, stealing since we had memory, no parents around… But I still like the life, you know? The difference is that Sadie didn’t grow up like that, she is learning it now and we don’t know if she’s built for it,” he replied as he slowly smoked.

Kakashi didn’t reply, he just hummed and drank some beer with his eyes on the city, wondering if they were built for it when they were born. Asuma let the silence stir for a little before talking again. 

“Is that why you didn’t give her your last name?”

The silver haired drank some more before replying. “No, I know she will be strong enough to handle whatever life throws at her. But she won’t be the heir of whatever I built of she doesn’t want to, I want her to choose.”

“What do you hope she chooses?”

“Honestly? I hope she hates the life, I hope she chooses to go to college and forget we exist. As you said, she wasn’t born into this, she never asked to be the heir of a street gang; and I don’t want her to be,” Kakashi replied.

Asuma nodded as he let smoke scape his mouth. “I’m sorry to disappoint you, but if it isn’t Sadie, you’ll have to have a kid. Even if blood isn’t everything to us, it is for the other gangs, and the police, and basically everyone.”

“Yeah, I’ve thought about that before,” the Scarecrow replied. And he really did. The business Kakashi had created wouldn’t fall into another’s hands all that smoothly, she or he would have to be recognized by everyone else. Having someone of his blood who could learn directly from him from a young age and also be legitimized was the ideal scenario.

Asuma laughed, making Kakashi turned his head to stare at him with a confused expression. “You don’t like women.”

“What? I like women.”

“I mean sexually,” Asuma explained without stop laughing.

Kakashi rolled his eyes. “I can like women.”

“Mhm, I guess if the future of the gang depends on it, you’ll have to. Who is the best candidate if I may know?” the bearded man asked.

“I don’t know, Asuma, not anyone would do. Besides, I won’t do it, the future of the gang does not depend on it,” Kakashi replied.

“Okay, but if you had to, who would do?”

The Scarecrow thought about it for a while as he kept drinking that beer that made his mouth dry. He had already made the decision of not having kids a long time ago, but if he did, the mother would have to be strong since she would have to deal with a bunch of threats.

“Mmm, maybe Tessa?”

“Tessa is seven years younger than us,” the brown haired pointed out.

“Seven years isn’t a lot, your parent were born like fifteen years old apart,” Kakashi reminded him.

“Fair enough, why Tessa then?” Asuma laughed.

“She knows the life, is strong enough to handle my shit and everyone else’s and, I don’t know… I think she would be a good mother.”

Asuma nodded as he tried not to laugh at his friend. Based on the harsh look he got, he had failed. “I know, I asked,” he smiled and shrugged his shoulders.

“Besides, she is smart enough to see the trap Danzō laid for us,” Kakashi added, but his tone was more serious then.

“You mean about the snipers?”

“No, about the journalist. Danzō’s goal was to get us to kill her, that’s why he started this… rivalry. When he ordered to kill Pakkun, he gave us something for the exchange; he knew we wouldn’t oblige to what he wanted if he didn’t have something to give us in return. So, he made us want to run our casino without his pressure; but he doesn’t care about the casino, he cares about what we can do for him. Everything was to lead us into that meeting,” the silver haired explained.

“You mean that he was, like… ten steps ahead of us? But why? Why have us do his dirty work?”

“I have been thinking about that. The answer I found is that he wants to make it look like a gang fight instead of a political move, it’s a good way to not get involved and make it our fault. He wouldn’t even be mentioned on the news.”

Asuma let out a short impressed whistle. “That’s… smart.”

“Yeah, but we can be smarter.”

# \---

The fact that the meeting room would always be foggy due to cigarette smoke couldn’t be denied nor escaped. Not even if the usual meeting room had been blown into pieces two days prior, because the new room they were using -in Kakashi’s penthouse, where he was temporary living with Sadie-was also filled with the dense smoke.

The Hellhounds had to meet with the Lightnings to negotiate a deal that left them with one rioting journalist. When Kakashi said that he would go alone, it didn’t sit well along the Family.

“What? Are you crazy? You can’t go alone,” Gai said. 

“You need protection,” Tenzō nodded.

“It’s another city, we don’t know how they do things there, or even if you are wanted by some other gang,” Genma supported the motion.

“That’s true, we don’t rule shit down there, at least let one of us go,” Asuma agreed.

“I should go with you, I’m the one who managed our relationship with them until today, after all,” Kurenai suggested.

“No, not you. I’ll go alone, it isn’t up for debate,” Kakashi replied and stood up, hoping to terminate the meeting.

Kurenai didn’t let him, though. “What do you mean with not me?”

Kakashi sighed. “You can all forget about the Eagles, I’ll handle this from now on. As you all said, it could be dangerous. We don’t know if I’m going to be welcomed there.”

“And? Do you seriously think Kurenai can’t handle it?” Gai intervened.

The Scarecrow was fond of his friend, but sometimes he didn’t understand why he had to play everyone’s advocate but his. He ignored what was going on and headed to the door.

“Don’t leave, Kakashi,” Kurenai demanded as she stood up and glared at him with her red eyes, “tell me why are you underestimating me all of the sudden, first with the blast and the meeting with the Eagles and now too. I know what we do is dangerous and I can be injured, and I am okay with it. Why do you let Genma get hurt and not me?” 

Kakashi turned around and glared back. “You are not in a condition in which you can get hurt.”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

“Do you seriously want me to say it, Kurenai? Don’t you already know this?” Kakashi asked. His look stayed hardened, but some confusion was slipping through. Maybe Kurenai didn’t know what was going on.

“You are pregnant, Kurenai.”


	4. Kurenai Yūhi

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, there! Hope you are doing good<3\. A little warning before you read: there are some mentions of rape. Nothing explicit, nothing happening in this chapter, but some mild descriptions of a memory.

People got used to calling her a witch, ask anywhere and they will know about the red eyed woman who can see the future. Between the palm readings and the tarot cards in her pocket, she understood the reason behind the nickname, even if the rumors weren’t exactly correct.

No one could see the future, it was absurd to think that. But some people may dream about it, or at least Kurenai did. Not every night, only if something big was about to happen. Some dreams were as clear as the day, whereas other where like blurry puzzles she had to put together. And all of them were accurate.

Kakashi soon learn to use the dreams to his advantage, for he believed them to always be true. Gai and Asuma were skeptical at first, but trusted the Scarecrow’s judgement. Reading Tenzō when he joined the Hellhounds was much harder, Kurenai couldn’t tell if he believed in her dreams, or if he even cared at all. Genma was new to the Family and still believed it to be some kind of gipsy magic, but he would fall in line eventually.

That was why Kurenai wasn’t pregnant. She couldn’t be because she would have dream about it. Still, something in her brain told her Kakashi wasn’t wrong. A baby was something big, how come she didn’t see it coming? How could she miss this?

The few movements she saw in the room were in slow motion, as if they were all underwater. Her head was spinning as were her thoughts. Everything became blurry, unfocused. The smoke didn’t help, neither did the ringing in her ears.

Asuma’s voice brought time to its normal speed at once. “Pregnant?”

“Pregnant?” Kurenai echoed, looking at Kakashi.

“You didn’t know?” the silver haired asked, looking even more confused than her.

Kurenai turned around. Every look in the room was on her. Tenzō, Gai, Asuma, Genma… they all had the same look in their eyes, a solemn one. Kurenai’s heart dropped to her feet.

“I… No, you don’t look at me like that,” she said. “All of you, change your faces before I carve your eyes out of them.” She did sound threatening, but the angry, wild look on her eyes twisted the effect. They… pitied her? The only move on the room came from Kakashi, who checked his watch. “This doesn’t change anything!” she raised her voice, “I am not weak, you stupid men! I… This…”

“No one thinks you are weak, Kurenai. We don’t understand what you are going through,” Gai intervened, also standing up, “none of us can do what you are doing, this makes you stronger.”

“No, it doesn’t! It…”

Kakashi cleared his voice, interrupting her and making her turn around again to face him. “I have to go, I’ll be back in two days. Take this time to think, Kurenai, and we will talk when I am back. Hold the fort, and we will discuss this later, okay?”

Kurenai had barely nodded when Kakashi left.

Of course he would leave, Kurenai thought, it was what he did best. But it didn’t matter, she needed the time. She knew how the talk with Kakashi would go down, it would be about whether she wanted to keep it or not. Kurenai didn’t know that yet, time was Kakashi’s first gift.

# \---

A three hour drive to Kumo would help Kakashi put his ideas in order. The city was high in the mountain ranges, almost hidden by clouds. From there, many rivers flowed to the sea, creating an impressive coastline. Kakashi wished he could admire the beautiful landscape, a balanced blend between the beauty of the ocean and the beauty of the mountains, but his problems wouldn’t solve themselves.

Instead, he parked his car in front of a luxurious hotel in the center of the gray city and grabbed his coat before heading into the building. He was immediately recognized, and asked to follow a man inside until he lead the Hellhound to the entrance to the hotel’s restaurant.

Then, they went into the kitchens and ended up in an empty room through a backdoor. Well, empty if you ignored the two muscular bodyguards guarding the only other door. Kakashi was searched, but he had been smart enough to go unarmed.

Oh, he had forgotten to leave the knife strapped to his ankle. That was a sneaky one.

“You will get this back on your way out,” the man who lead him said.

The Lightnings then let Kakashi enter to a room that was barely illuminated in a dim light. On the left wall there was a bar and, scattered all around the room, there were poker tables. He sat on a small table in one corner and ordered some whiskey.

A few minutes later, a dark skinned man with a large muscular build and blond hair combed back entered the room. He walked over to where Kakashi was sitting, greeting some people in the middle and giving the Hellhound time to study his face, adorned by a small moustache and goatee, with pronounced cheekbones and a prominent crease across his forehead. As me man walked imperiously towards him, Kakashi thought that that was a figure that could frighten his best Hellhound; not that he expected less from the leader of the Lightnings.

“Kakashi Hatake,” the man greeted him, saying his name like he didn’t believe that the Scarecrow was sitting there, “what the hell are you doing so far from Konoha?”

The man sat on the chair next to Kakashi, and offered him a cigar he took from his jacket pocket. There was something about the illumination of the room or on how close they were sitting together that gave a confidential air to the meeting, even if they weren’t alone, Kakashi though as he lit a cigar his host had offered him, and blew the smoke away, without answering the question.

“So?” his host began as he lit a cigar of his own, “to what do I owe the pleasure of your presence?”

Kakashi nodded slowly. “Pleasure, A? You flatter me.”

The big man on the other side of the table went by a simple name, A; but his reputation as the leader of the Lightnings lacked that simplicity. A didn’t reply, just let smoke out of his mouth.

“Straight to business, I see,” the Hellhound lamented, “fine, you have something I want. Well, someone to be precise.”

A raised his eyebrows, genuinely caught off guard. “Someone? You have my attention.”

“A journalist from Konoha, she is known as the Bleeding Heart.”

The head of the Lightnings let out a breathy laugh mixed with cigar smoke. “You are asking for too much, Kakashi, do you know that?”

“Ah, you caught feelings, I didn’t know you had those,” Kakashi insinuated with a side smile.

“Ha! Funny… You’re a funny man, Kakashi,” A laughed loudly. Kakashi laughed with him, letting air and smoke mix in his lungs.

“It’s just a woman, A,” Kakashi replied, getting more serious, “I could be asking for a whole of a lot more, but I just want this.”

“Are you working for the Eagles now?” the Lightning asked, saying the name of the gang with profound contempt. He knew Danzō’s gang was after the journalist he was protecting.

Kakashi grunted. “Of course not, but let’s say that they have some leverage on us and this is how I turn things around.”

“I’d like to lend you a hand, Hatake, but I swore to protect that woman, you are asking me to break my word,” A explained.

The smoke got ticker and there was a moment of silence before Kakashi spoke, pointing at the other man with the tip of his cigar and looking at him straight into the eyes. “And how much does your word cost?”

A slammed his fist on the table, making the two glasses there tingle as they jumped and settled again. A few heads turn, but were smart enough to look elsewhere when they saw who provoked the rampage. A’s frown ran deep, and the anger was like fire in his eyes.

“I don’t like what you are implying, Scarecrow,” he said with a deeper voice.

But Kakashi stayed calm, not even flinching at the loud bang, smoking his cigar as if there wasn’t a huge angry man before him, ready to throw punches.

“Everyone has a price, you aren’t special, A,” he replied and then leaned closer, letting the smoke of his cigar reach A’s facial hair, and spoke in a lower voice. “All I am asking is… what do you need?”

A stood still, enchanted by the confidentiality of the environment and what he Hellhound was offering. A million of doors with different opportunities behind them flashed before his eyes. But he played it cool, and laid back against his chair instead of letting the silver haired lure him in.

“You have a big ego, make sure it doesn’t eat you.”

Kakashi smiled. “I don’t have a big ego, I have resources. Resources than can help you get what you want. So, and I hope I’m asking this one last time, what is it that you want?”

In the Scarecrow’s visible gray eye, A could see everything he wanted. And he wanted a lot. Hatake fell in his city offering him luck, who was he to refuse if the snake desired to give him what he wanted?

“Let’s start with fifteen betting licenses for my bookies down in Konoha,” A said after a long silence, “don’t worry, I won’t steal your business, it’ll be for a cover.”

“I can get you eight at most.”

A laughed. “No, no, Hatake. The way I see it, I hold the cards here.”

But Kakashi had a smug smile that bothered A, along with the fact that he was reclined in A’s chair as if it were his and smoking A’s cigar as if it belonged in his pale hand.

“Then you should start to see beyond yourself. For example, let’s think about what Kiyoi Yotsuki sees. He is a high ranking Lightning, isn’t he?”

The Hellhound wasn’t wrong, but A didn’t understand what did Kiyoi had to do with this deal. “What the hell are you talking about?”

Kakashi let out a short laugh and blew some smoke up to the ceiling. “Oh, it’s not me who is doing the talking. You see,” he said as he put out the cigar in the ashtray, “your man’s mouth gets big after sex, it’s seems as if he can’t stop talking.”

“That red eyed bitch, I swear…” A cursed. Kiyoi was managing his business in Konoha, and A heard that he was sleeping around with that Hellhound woman, the seductive little witch. He tried to discourage the relationship, but it seemed as if he had failed.

“Nothing,” Kakashi interrupted. “Your word apparently has a high worth, you won’t spill it just because, will you?”

A could see when he didn’t have the leverage. “What do you want, Hatake?” he asked, gritting his teeth.

“I want what you want, A. True, I have information that can put you and several Lightnings behind bars for good, your little organization will get lost in history…” the silver haired replied, sounding almost as if he would lament it. “But I like you, A. You are sloppy and have some temper issues, but you made your business from scratch and I respect that. Kiyoi’s big mouth doesn’t have to tear your growing business to the ground. So, I’d rather get rid of our common enemy instead, for what I can offer you eight gambling licenses.”

“Are you testing my temper issues? Because you might get a taste if you keep this up,” A replied, clenching his fists.

Kakashi shrugged his shoulders and shook his head slowly. “I am not testing anything. I came here alone because I am not looking for a fight. I want one thing and one thing only: the Bleeding Heart. Are you up for negotiation or not?”

A’s knuckles were white by then, and the thick smoke leaving the cigar that rested in his serious mouth seemed as threatening as his ireful glare. Kakashi stayed still, as a prey who doesn’t want to give attention for itself.

But suddenly, A began to laugh so much the cigar almost fell off his mouth and Kakashi’s shoulders relaxed. “Ah, I’ve always wanted to meet the Scarecrow in person, what a legend. Seems that I got myself the full experience. I am up for negotiation, but eight gambling licenses aren’t worth nobody’s life.”

Kakashi smiled, pleased. “How about ten?”

“Fine, ten,” the Lightning replied while putting out his cigar and still laughing a little, “but I also want one more thing. There’s a shipment arriving to the Konoha in a few weeks, and I would appreciate it if it got safely from there to here, I don’t want the police anywhere near it.”

“I believe you’re getting cocky.”

“ _And_ , if anything goes wrong, we can pin it on the Eagles,” A added.

“Mhm, interesting. I’ll handle the police and get the shipment up to Konoha’s border, but not further,” Kakashi settled.

“Sounds fair.”

# \---

The bar may be reduced to ashes, rebuilding it would take at least three more days, but the back where the offices were was left almost intact. Maybe it was fortune or a coincidence, or maybe it was deliberate. Asuma didn’t care, it was late at night and his mind was somewhere else while he sat at his office and saw the smoke from his cigarette travel to the ceiling, hoping his thoughts accompanied it.

Until the ritual was interrupted by Kurenai entering the room. He hadn’t seen her for two days, when he found out she was pregnant. Asuma tried to reach her and talk, but the red eyed woman had disappeared. Only to appear at his office, wearing a black and white dress over fishnet stockings that she knew would drive him crazy.

Asuma sat straight. “Kurenai,” he whispered, as if he had seen her ghost instead of the real person.

“Hey, I got your calls,” she said softly.

The bearded man didn’t reply, so Kurenai walked over to his desk, but didn’t sit on the opposite chair. Instead, she stood next to him and leaned on the desk, almost sitting on it. Asuma could smell her from there, could brush his fingers against the stockings.

He put out the cigarette and moved his chair to face her with his whole body. “Are we going to talk?”

“Do we have to?” Kurenai asked, getting closer.

Asuma’s hands went to her hips and caressed the sides of her body downwards up to her knees, and then back up. He then let out a short sigh. “We should.”

Kurenai grabbed his face from the chin and made him look up so she could lay a soft kiss on his lips. She then let him go, but Asuma held her closer to kiss again. When the kiss inevitably grew more passionate, Kurenai found a way to sit straddling Asuma.

“Wait, I am serious,” Asuma said when he broke the kiss, “this is serious.” But his hands were still on Kurenai’s sides, keeping her from standing.

“I know,” she replied, “but we could use one more night. One more night where nothing is serious, and then we can talk until we get sick of it.”

Kurenai kissed him again, and felt the impatience on Asuma’s lips despite the words that came from them. She was there, safe, on top of him and kissing him like it was the end of the world. And she smelled good, and tasted even better.

“One more night,” Asuma replied out of breath, “and that’s it.”

She nodded and resumed the kiss. It was bruising and intense, but there was no need to hide the eagerness. Not when Asuma’s pants could lie under her with a shift of her hips.

After a while of kissing and grinding, Kurenai’s hands finally found the wat to the fly of Asuma’s pants, and undid it. She loved the relieved groan Asuma let out when she cupped his cock on her hand and started jerking him off until he had to hide his face on her neck and nibble at the skin there to keep his sanity.

That was when Kakashi entered the room.

“Good, you are both here,” he greeted and sat on one of the armchairs in the space between the door and Asuma’s desk, resting his legs on the coffee table.

“Kakashi, what the fuck,” Kurenai cursed.

“You don’t have to stop on my account,” he smiled.

Kurenai let out a sigh and rested her forehead against Asuma’s for a moment before standing up and wrinkling out her dress. She wished she could get herself some whiskey, she needed it.

On the opposite side, Asuma was laughing while he adjusted his pants. “I thought you changed over the years, but you are still a pervert.”

Kakashi just sat with a mild smile as his friends sat on the other armchairs, and then took his feet out of the coffee table.

“So,” he began, looking at Kurenai.

“I am keeping it,” she interrupted him.

Asuma glanced at her with an expression she couldn’t read since she was looking at Kakashi instead, who was nodding slowly and intertwined his fingers.

“Okay,” Kakashi replied, “but we’ll have to handle the Kiyoi situation.”

“Who the fuck is Kiyoi?” Asuma asked, looking at the woman.

Kurenai swallowed down and cleared her voice. “He is the Lightning working here, in Konoha. And he, um… He could be the father.”

The black haired man frowned deeply. “What do you mean could?”

“I don’t know! I mean, I believe it’s yours but I can’t be sure, okay? I stopped seeing Kiyoi when I started seeing you, the dates… aren’t exactly clear,” she explained. And then, she looked at Kakashi and asked, “how do you know how far along I am?”

“I am observant, as you know, and I agree that we can’t be sure who the father is,” the silver haired replied.

Asuma ran his hand through his hair as he started to realize the complexity of their situation. “This is a mess,” he spoke in a low voice.

“It doesn’t have to be, we can raise it as ours, nobody has to know,” Kurenai said.

“That’s why I need you two to get married as soon as possible,” the silver haired Hellhound intervened.

“Are you two fucking kidding me?” Asuma asked.

“This isn’t the middle age, Kakashi, damn it,” Kurenai complained.

Kakashi took in a deep breath. “This is a mess,” he agreed, “but we have the time to act on it. So, you two will get married. No suspicions will arise then, the baby will also belong to Asuma then and the Lightnings won’t have a claim over it.”

 _Belong?_ Kurenai loathed that word. Loathed that situation. They were talking about a person, for God’s sake, they won’t belong to anyone.

“Are you telling me that I have to marry Kurenai because we fucked around while she was pregnant with some other dude’s baby?” Asuma asked Kakashi.

Kurenai sighed loudly. “I can’t tell if you are this bad with words or if you are the stupidest asshole I know.”

“Okay, maybe that came out wrong. What I was trying to say was that we only started whatever this is only a month ago, we aren’t serious! Or at least, not yet. You can’t honestly say that you want to marry me, can you?”

“Okay, I had enough,” Kakashi interrupted, “Kurenai, no matter who the father is, you can’t have a child alone, not in this life, not in this family. Unless you want Kiyoi to claim it, and put in motion a domino chain that can destroy us, which I’m guessing no one in this room wants. Asuma, if you don’t want this, we can find someone else.”

“Wait, no,” the bearded man said, and then looked at Kurenai, “I don’t want someone else marrying you. I will do it, I will do whatever you need, I will always do.”

Kurenai looked at him, then at Kakashi, then at Asuma again. There she was all over again, trapped in the cage she had tried to escape her whole life: a room with men deciding her future. _Sleep with this guy, wear something more revealing or the plan won’t work, tell me what you know, stay quiet, don’t act as if you aren’t enjoying this, don’t keep the baby, keep the baby, marry him_. She was sitting there all over again, silent and nodding and doing; but this time with men she thought were friends.

This time at least she could decide on whether she kept the baby or not. Marrying Asuma, on the other hand, felt like an order, one she would have to follow because Kakashi was right. It was the quickest, best, only way out. Kiyoi would take her baby, and probably would take her as well if he suspected anything but the Hellhounds wouldn’t let him do that without a fight, even if they couldn’t fight two wars at the same time.

Besides, the deal with the Lightnings Kakashi had just made would crumble in seconds. And if they didn’t get that journalist, the deal with Danzō would also be over, and that would mean war, one Kurenai wasn’t sure they could win.

Marrying Asuma would prevent two gang wars, Kakashi wasn’t suggesting it just because and Kurenai knew that. That didn’t stop her from being mad as hell.

“What if I want you to fuck off?” she asked with her voice loaded with poison.

Kakashi let out a breath and stood up. “You two figure this out, the sooner the better. I managed to get Kiyoi out of Konoha for the time being, but that can change. I have to talk to Tsunade about some gambling licenses,” he said as he buttoned up his suit.

A would surely take some action based on the information Kakashi had told him the day before about Kiyoi’s screw up, the latter wouldn’t be in Konoha for a while thanks to that. Two birds, one stone.

He left the room only to be followed by Kurenai, who left Asuma in his office.

“Wait, fill me in, I’ll go to Tsunade’s,” Kurenai requested. Kakashi looked at her, conflicted. “I am pregnant, not quadriplegic, for God’s sake. This is a stupid little thing compared to what I do for a fucking living, in case you forgot.”

“Fine,” the Scarecrow agreed. He then got closer, and spoke in a lower voice. “By the way, I am sorry about this whole situation. I am glad you are keeping it and-”

“I know, it is what it is.”

Kakashi nodded and cautiously added, “but, you know, if you change your mind and decide you don’t want it, I can go with you and hold your hand or whatever. I don’t want you to be alone.”

The black haired frowned slightly. Kakashi was telling her that he was sorry she had to marry Asuma for the Hellhound’s sake, but that she had to do it whether the baby was Kiyoi’s or not. However, Kurenai knew that his friend wanted what was best for her, he didn’t want her to be alone and helpless. Kakashi was telling her that it was okay to change her mind about the baby, that it was okay to choose.

“You are a good friend, Kakashi Hatake.”

# \---

“No, wait, you can’t go in there!” Tessa yelled.

Iruka opened the doors to Kakashi’s office and stepped in, followed by Tessa. The silver haired was sitting on his desk, vaguely smoking a cigarette while he wrote something that seemed important.

“I am sorry, I tried to stop him,” the girl apologized to Kakashi, who had looked at her with an eyebrow raised demanding an explanation without dropping the pen or the cigarette.

“I know, you can go,” he replied and went back to writing as Tessa closed the doors behind her.

When Iruka realized that Kakashi wouldn’t say anything, he stepped closer to the desk. “I tried to reach you, but it’s hard since you don’t have a phone.”

“I don’t like phones,” the silver haired replied without taking his eyes of the paper.

“I noticed, and your assistant is really good at dodging me.”

Kakashi just nodded and kept writing. Iruka didn’t know exactly what to do, so he sat on the chair by the desk and waited while he saw the other man smoke and write. A couple more lines and the silver haired was done, he lined the papers and set them aside.

“So,” Kakashi said, finally looking at Iruka, “what brought you here?”

“I wanted to say that I am sorry about what I said the last time I saw you.”

The Scarecrow blew some smoke to the ceiling before putting the cigarette out. “Are you sorry about what you said or about how you said it?”

He had said something similar when they met in the bathroom of that club, where Iruka had also apologized. It felt like they were going in circles.

“Does it matter?”

“You tell me, you are the one who felt the need to apologize.”

The teacher frowned, astonished. “We have quite different lives, Kakashi. I told you I didn’t care what you do, I care about Sadie, who is a child and my student, of course I want her safe. And I’ll always mean that.”

Kakashi sighed and feel the itch for another cigarette. “Okay, let’s clear this out then. If I recall correctly, when we first met you said that Sadie’s grades and social skills had significantly improved since I adopted her. The kid couldn’t even write a full sentence when I took her under my wing and now you are telling me that the school can’t keep up with her growth. How did you think that happened? Did you think Sadie learned to write by herself? Did you think that she just does good in school without help?”

Iruka swallowed down. Kakashi wasn’t wrong, but teaching a child how to read didn’t make you a good parent. Of course, he wouldn’t dare to say that out loud. “It doesn’t matter whether she can write or not if she is growing up in a freaking gang where her life expectancy is, what? Maybe twenty three years old?” he asked instead, although it sounded just as offensive.

“You think I am twenty three? Thank you for the compliment,” the Scarecrow responded. Despite the fact that he was clearly joking, his lips were pressed in a thin line and his only visible eye was narrowed.

The teacher shook his head and sighed. “I just want to go back to the way it was before you stormed off of my apartment.”

“I don’t know if I want that,” Kakashi said as he put out his cigarette, “I liked the sex part, but didn’t enjoy the reproach I got after quite as much.”

“That’s what I came here to change.”

Kakashi put one a fake smile. “You just proved the opposite. Besides, I don’t want to sleep with someone who disapproves of me that much. Honestly, I don’t get why would you want to sleep with someone you think so little of.”

“Because we are good in bed, together,” Iruka replied. Kakashi noted that the brunet hadn’t denied thinking little of him, but he frankly didn’t care.

“So you just want to have sex.”

Iruka snorted. “You want more?”

“No, and that’s why I don’t feel like I have to explain myself to you, nor tell you what I think about your personal life and job; something that it seems you can’t refrain from doing.”

The brown haired man held his breath and took a second to answer. “You were right about Sadie’s improvement in school, I have never seen her better and I guess you played your part on that.”

Kakashi did not want to have this conversation at all, but liked it better when it didn’t feel as if Iruka was licking his boots. Of course he had a fucking part on that, he removed Sadie from an abusive household and provided her with everything she needed to grow well and be happy. The kid had slept splayed over his chest for two months straight because she didn’t feel safe anywhere else. Kakashi knew he wasn’t the best guardian, he didn’t understand children at all and, according to the Family, left in crucial moments, but he was doing his best and didn’t care to explain himself to a teacher who only wanted him for sex. And cared even less about said teacher telling him what he thought Kakashi wanted to hear.

“You guess? That’s nice. Sadie is and will always be safe, that’s just a fact you want to ignore and that I don’t have to prove to you. If you came here as a teacher doubting about my efficiency as a guardian, ask Sadie how she likes her life and see what she says,” Kakashi replied.

Iruka didn’t know if it was the tone, the low volume, or the charged words, but he felt he was shrinking with every sentence Kakashi said. He only felt like that on that first meeting they had at school where Kakashi was angry and distant, but never again.

“I didn’t come as a teacher, and I get that you don’t have to explain yourself to me. I won’t bring the issue up anymore, but you can’t make me feel like I was wrong to doubt the situation when we both know the rumors about you, Kakashi,” Iruka said and he finally managed to speak in a soft tone with a clear intention not to hurt Kakashi, but to make amends.

Kakashi’s expression softened. “You slept with me for more than a week and still believed the rumors, Iruka.”

“I… yeah, I know. And I am sorry, but-”

“But you think a lot and don’t want to know much,” Kakashi repeated the same words as the last time they saw each other.

“You are a gangster, Kakashi; the Scarecrow, nonetheless. You have made quite a reputation for yourself, sex can’t change that so quickly,” Iruka replied.

Kakashi reclined on his chair and shook his head slowly. “When you say stop, I stop. I treat you well, take care of you, make sure you are prepped and enjoying it as much as I am. I don’t even smoke around you because I know you don’t like it, and I don’t do that for anyone but Sadie.”

“Do I have to thank common courtesy now?” Iruka asked, with a frown and a weird smile.

“No, but you shouldn’t act as if I don’t offer it. As far as you know, I am a rough, dangerous gangster that would fuck you dry without caring, am I not?” Kakashi looked serene, his voice was low and steady.

Iruka couldn’t help to blush and he hated to blush, so he blushed even more. “I never said that.”

“But you believe the rumors, and that’s what the rumors say, right?” Kakashi asked without shying away.

“The rumors don’t mention you liking men. Or being gentle with your partners, what was I supposed to expect?”

Kakashi stood up and walked around the desk until he was next to Iruka, who felt like a cat on alert, with his hairs up and ready to scratch. The gangster leaned on the desk in front of Iruka, covering him with his shadow, and looked at him with a single dark gray eye.

“Are you scared of me, Iruka?” he asked in an exceptionally low voice. Iruka frowned and shook his head slowly. “Do you even like me, then?”

“What is that supposed to mean?” the teacher asked trying to sound calm, but failing extraordinarily.

“You don’t want to see my face during sex, you turn away or choose a position from which I can only see your back,” the silver haired explained.

“You don’t like my back?” Iruka smiled.

Kakashi caressed the sides of the tanned man face with a featherlight touch that made him shiver. “I love your back, but it doesn’t drive me as crazy as your face does.”

Iruka felt electricity run down his whole body. There was no way a light touch and a few words could make you feel like that, was it? The man standing before him was dangerous. Iruka was left so thunderstruck he couldn’t respond.

The silver haired hummed, and the low sound echoed through Iruka’s body. “So, you don’t want to face me and you prefer if I don’t prep you, what is that about?”

Some sense ran though Iruka’s brain, and he found a way to speak again. “As if you didn’t enjoy the view.”

An image of Iruka completely naked, opening himself up with three fingers down his hole flashed in Kakashi’s mind. He leaned closer to Iruka. “Oh, don’t get me wrong, I very much do,” he smiled, savoring the picture, “but it isn’t about that. At first I thought it was a preference, although I soon discovered that it isn’t.”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Iruka said. The blush had spread down his chest and up his ears.

“I don’t mind being lied to, Iruka; but I’d really like the truth about this.” Kakashi’s voice was like a murmur that compelled Iruka to tell him what he wanted, even if the silver haired may already know the truth.

Iruka sighed, breaking the spell. “It’s not that I don’t like seeing your face, or don’t want you to touch me. I do, but I thought you didn’t, so I wanted to be accommodating,” he replied. He didn’t let Kakashi reply, he instead stood up from his chair. The silver haired was close, so close Iruka could hear his breathing, but the teacher didn’t back away. “I know what you are going to say, _‘you think instead of knowing’_. But everything I knew about you is that you are a cruel gangster that doesn’t care about anything but himself.”

“You prepped yourself because you thought I wouldn’t do it for you,” Kakashi realized out loud.

Iruka nodded shyly. “And didn’t face you because I didn’t know you wanted to face me.”

The Scarecrow looked at him dead in the eyes, and lifted his hand to hold Iruka’s face by the chin. “You _are_ afraid of me.”

Iruka looked away. “I am not blind, Kakashi. I see the gun and knives you carry when we undress. You may call bullshit on the rumors, but I know most of them are true.”

“And yet you still came to my office so we can kiss and make up.”

“I came to say that you can keep coming to my place, I won’t be up your ass anymore about Sadie. You liked the sex part, and it is still on the table,” Iruka replied.

Kakashi grabbed Iruka by the waist, leaned in and kissed him. Iruka melted into the kiss immediately, relieved he had convinced the silver haired. But Kakashi broke the kiss when Iruka bit his lip.

“I don’t have time now, I am working,” the Scarecrow excused himself, “this bar and my house won’t rebuild themselves on their own.”

Iruka could see regret in his eye, and that was all he needed. “See you around, then.”

# \---

Tsunade’s office has a very traditional dark wooden desk on the center and two matching red armchairs on one side, but Kurenai was currently sitting on a chair at the desk.

“You can pick the licenses in two days, I’ll have them ready for you,” Tsunade said.

The fair skinned woman seemed young, even if she was much older than Kurenai. Her light blond hair was long, and tied into two loose ponytails, letting the bangs frame her face. If anyone was a witch, it had to be Tsunade; there was no way to look that youthful and have and incredible body in your fifties with the amount of alcohol Tsunade ingested every day.

But they had known each other for a long time, and Kurenai knew the older woman wasn’t a witch because that thing just didn’t exist. Tsunade’s magic consisted of being a good friend and a lifesaver for the Hellhounds when it came to legal issues.

“Thank you so much, Tsunade,” Kurenai replied, but didn’t stand up to leave, even if the meeting was over.

“Is there anything else you need?” the blonde asked.

“No, I… If it isn’t a nuisance, I was wondering why you never had children,” Kurenai said. Tsunade squinted a little bit, but enough for the other woman to notice. “You don’t have to tell me, I am sorry.”

“So you are keeping it, then.”

“You knew?”

Tsunade smiled and relaxed on her chair. “The moment I laid my eyes on you. I used to be a doctor once, remember? Before of all this-” she raised her hands to point at the office full of wooden furniture- “lawyer and politics stuff.”

She made a pause and intertwined her fingers over her stomach as she looked to the high ceiling, thinking.

“I guess I never had a child because I didn’t want to,” Tsunade explained, and then smiled and joked, “I wouldn’t have been able to drink while pregnant. Also, I never had a partner to raise them with.”

Kurenai repositioned herself on her chair, uncomfortable. “Is that really important? I mean, there are tons of single mothers out there and they do fine.”

“Of course, they kick ass. I am not saying it is important for everyone, I am saying that it is important to me. If I had a child, I’d want to share motherhood. You can raise this baby on your own and you will love every minute of it, and I am sure they will grow to be an amazing person. Nevertheless, if I had to choose to do it alone or with someone else, I would choose to share the experience. There is something about it that can’t be put into words,” Tsunade replied.

Kurenai nodded slowly as she tried to find her voice again, there was a knot on her throat that didn’t let her move. “Wow,” she managed to say with a hoarse voice, “when did the toughest woman I know become so… tender?”

“Nobody is one dimensional, Kurenai.”

“Of course not, you are right. It’s just that… I used to think that we couldn’t show our gentle and kind side in this life, it was a sign of weakness-” Kurenai’s voice broke. She hid her face between her hands. “What if it is girl? Women like us have to be strong and made of stone or we won’t survive out there. Street gangs aren’t exactly nice places to grow up, and-”

“And you think anywhere else is?” Tsunade interrupted, “women all around the globe have to be strong in order to survive, no matter where they grow up. We are belittled, underpaid, abused, murdered, raped and victims everywhere we go by strangers, friends, bosses, family, partners, you name it. So yes, we are strong, we don’t have a choice. I’ll admit that a street gang isn’t the ideal place to bring a child into, too much cigarette smoke and danger, but you would have the same doubts even if you were a wealthy woman that wears expensive furs, or a working middle class woman.”

Kurenai lifted her face from her hands, her eyes were red as ever with some tears threatening to escape them. “So we are all doomed? Is that what you are saying? If nowhere is safe I might as well not have this baby and prevent her from this misery.”

“Of course we aren’t, child! We are strong, remember? And resilient. Me and you… we have been through hell and back. And we still can find happiness, we still get to have a tender side. You grew up from a gang to another, and you survived them all. Because of that, your child will have a better life. Maybe she’ll have to learn to be strong from a young age, and I am sure not everything in her life will be perfect, but she will have joy in her life. No one can take that away from us. I am a doctor and successful lawyer, and you sit on the throne of your organization. Slowly but surely, we are making a difference, dear. Your daughter will be that change too.”

Kurenai remembers the first time she lost hope. She was almost seventeen, but she still remembers the smell of alcohol in the man’s mouth, still remembers being trapped under his body. He was a talker, and she had her eyes closed, which only made the words the man was spilling record like a mantra in her head. _Such a good girl, enjoying it and all, I guess everyone who meets you wants to fuck you, how can they control themselves around you? So pretty, you deserve this._ She had a few bruises for a while and couldn’t stand looking in the mirror.

The first time it had happened, she hadn’t even noticed it. That made her feel even worse, more ashamed, and angrier. She hadn’t noticed because his boyfriend at the time was the one making her a victim. “ _I am your boyfriend, you owe me this. You will enjoy it, you’ll see_ ,” is what he had said. And fifteen year old Kurenai believed him, having sex was what a couple does, so she had to enjoy it. Even if she didn’t, even if it made her hate herself and puke afterwards. Little did her know that she didn’t owe nobody shit.

She met Kakashi shortly after her seventeenth birthday, way before the silver haired was known as the Scarecrow. The man who had raped her only three weeks before was found dead five nights later. Kurenai had never told Kakashi anything, but somehow he knew. He always knew stuff he wasn’t supposed to. Maybe he was the wizard, and not her.

Nonetheless, life gave her hope again, even if not everything was right. She met good men and kept them close, she stopped feeling like a victim and started to fight back. She met an amazing woman named Tsunade, that restored her faith with words.

And now she was pregnant. And desperate because she wanted to have children but didn’t want to birth another victim. She didn’t want the world to teach her daughter how to be one, even if she wasn’t. But Tsunade was right, she would be afraid no matter what, she was a mother after all. And one who could fight her battles and protect her daughter. Her child wouldn’t have to have the hard life Kurenai had because she would have a home and a family that would be for her no matter what.

What Kurenai really didn’t want was to birth another oppressor.

“God, I hope it isn’t a boy,” she uttered.

Tsunade extended her hand to Kurenai, who let the woman warmly hold and protect her hands over the desk.

“You’ll teach him to be a proper man, darling. A proper human that can lead others to be like him. I am sure of that,” the blonde replied.

“I am so grateful, Tsunade. Thank you, so much,” was all Kurenai could say. A few tears were running down her face already.

“Don’t worry, I wish someone could’ve told me this when I was your age. See? That’s change right here, hope of a better future,” Tsunade replied with a warm smile.

There was a soft knock on the door, and Tsunade let go of Kurenai’s hands before answering. The dark haired woman quickly wiped out the tears from her face.

“Come in,” she said.

A short woman with jet black hair entered the room with a white envelope in her hands that she handed to Tsunade.

“This couldn’t wait,” she said.

“Thank you, Shizune,” Tsunade replied and Shizune left.

The blond opened the envelope, which contained a letter she read attentively. Her kind smile quickly disappeared, and her eyes became darker. Kurenai could almost see the youth leave her body.

“I am sorry, Kurenai, but I have to go,” Tsunade excused herself and stood up, “I have to leave Konoha, but I will still have your gambling licenses done, you don’t have to worry about it.”

She grabbed a briefcase and began filling it with some of the papers on her desk. She was sloppy, not really caring if the sheets wrinkled, Kurenai could tell she was on a hurry.

“Is everything alright? Can we help?” the red eyes woman asked on behalf of the Hellhounds.

Tsunade stopped what she was doing and look at her with the warm smile from before. “It’s fine, don’t worry about it.”

“Okay, sure. Safe journey, I guess,” Kurenai replied hesitantly.

The older woman nodded and went back to filling the suitcase, so Kurenai left wondering what was written on that letter.

# \---

Kakashi’s hands let go of their grip on Iruka’s thighs, who plopped down on the bed next to him a second after. The silver haired man whished refractory period didn’t exist so that Iruka could ride him forever.

Bold Iruka was back, taking the initiative and manhandling Kakashi now that he knew for a fact that the Scarecrow enjoyed it. Kakashi was comfortable making the statement that he had a fair share of experience, but there was nothing compared to Iruka when he wasn’t shy and tip toeing around him.

“Can I use your computer?” Kakashi asked, panting as he hadn’t really recovered yet.

Iruka let out a breathy, tired laugh. “You really are unable rest, aren’t you?”

“And a paper pad,” the silver haired added.

“You have come all over your stomach,” the teacher pointed out.

“I’ll clean up first, of course. I just need a computer, and something to write.”

“What…?” Iruka began to ask, but stopped himself as a new train of thought intruded in his mind. “I mean, yeah, go ahead.”

Without an answer, Kakashi got up and disappeared out the door. He cleaned up and looked for some boxer briefs or pants to wear, and then got to work.

He made a few searches, and went through the deep web for some information he was needing. Sure, he didn’t have a phone or a computer, but that didn’t mean he didn’t know how to use them; in fact, he was better at it than most. Therefore, he knew that electronics were easily accessible pools of information and preferred to stay unreachable in the shadows.

Finding what he needed wasn’t hard at all. He was writing an address and a date on a paper pad when Iruka entered his living room. Kakashi quickly closed all tabs in the computer and ripped off sheet and folded it.

“All done, thank you” he said.

“Sure,” Iruka replied and got closer to the man who was sitting on his couch, smelling like sex and wearing only a pair of black boxer briefs that also belonged to him. Kakashi was going to drive him crazy one day, and Iruka wasn’t so sure if he cared at all.


	5. The Family

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *pops out of nowhere*
> 
> Hello and welcome back! I know this chapter is long overdue, but I am back with a few more chapters. I can't say I will keep a regular posting schedule because both my life and my mind are a mess, but what I can say is that I will finish this story. I won't leave you hanging for this long again, I promise.
> 
> Anyways, I hope you are happy about that. Go enjoy the chapter<3

Kurenai closed the door and threw her keys into the small bowl under the mirror with a loud sigh. She leaned against the door for a moment, a hand running circles on her stomach absentmindedly. Eventually, she collected herself and walked over her kitchen looking for a snack.

A red apple wasn’t the snack she was thinking of, but it was almost the only thing there. It’d do the job, she guessed. She grabbed it and headed to the small living room area next, hoping to get out of her boots and watch some tv to relax but knowing that that wasn’t her luck that night.

Kurenai had lived in the same apartment since she could afford rent, even if she now had the money to afford whatever building in the city she fancied. It wasn’t that she had an aversion to change, rather than a fierce loyalty to where she put down roots and a preference to be in control of her surroundings. And that apartment was that place for her, so the size of the rooms didn’t matter and neither did the unpleasant neighborhood because she knew every corner, every sound, every smell of that apartment, and that was priceless in her line of work.

And that night… Well, that night something was off. Kurenai couldn’t exactly pinpoint what, but she knew she wasn’t alone and had a light suspicion on who may accompany her. She leaned on the frame of the opened living room door and turned on the lights while she had a bite of the apple.

“Lurking in the shadows isn’t really your style. Maybe Kakashi’s or Gai’s… definitely Yamato’s,” she said to the figure sitting on her white sofa.

The man smiled. “I think it suits me quite well.”

Kurenai eyed him from head to toes, slowly scanning him with her red eyes. Sitting with his legs open and his arms splayed over the edge of the backrest, dressed in jeans and a leather jacket, was a man with olive skin, short spiky black hair, and a beard. Maybe to other people he would seem intimidating, but to Kurenai he was just Asuma, whose smile became smug under her gaze.

“Maybe,” she granted and moved from the door to the armchair next to the sofa.

There was a moment of silence that stilled an argument in the air. They could joke and flirt all they wanted, but Kurenai knew a more important conversation was coming her way, and this time there was no dodging it. When she found out she was pregnant, she disappeared on him for two days, only to come back to avoid the conversation. And after they talked to Kakashi, she ran away to Tsunade’s. That was the prior day, now she had Asuma sitting on her sofa.

But she wouldn’t start the conversation herself; Kurenai felt blindsided, she didn’t know where Asuma stood or what he wanted to say, and didn’t want to trigger an angry reaction by saying the wrong thing. So she took a bite of her apple instead and waited for Asuma to talk.

“Kurenai, I…” the bearded man started but stopped when she made eye contact with him. Kurenai knew the expression on his face, it was his _‘I need a cigarette’_ face. She didn’t pride herself with the fact that she could read Asuma like an open book, that was the face he had every moment he didn’t have a cigarette in his mouth after all.

Asuma didn’t go for a cigarette but moved his arms from the backrest, placed his elbows on his knees and leaned forward.

“I want you to have this baby if it makes you happy. You will be an amazing mother.”

“But?” Kurenai had enough experience to not swoon at the praise, not when there was a shoe that hadn’t dropped yet.

Asuma nodded slowly. Of course Kurenai wouldn’t make this easy for him. “I don’t think I can marry you unless I know for sure that the baby is mine.”

Kurenai opened her mouth, but nothing came out. There were a lot of things she wanted to say, it seemed as if her brain just couldn’t choose. Thankfully, Asuma went on.

“I know yesterday I said I would but…” Asuma interrupted himself to run a hand over his face and then hair.

“Now you don’t care about some other man marrying me?”

In retrospect, Kurenai knew it wasn’t the most pressing question, or the most relevant one, but it simply just came out. Asuma did say that he didn’t want someone else marrying her, as if she was some _thing_ rather than some _one_. The thought of her as prize to be claimed, an inconvenience to be solved, really bugged her.

“It doesn’t bother me as much as the idea of raising a child that isn’t mine, no,” Asuma honestly replied.

“You are unbelievable,” Kurenai said, poison leaking through her tone, as she stood up and crossed her arms. Asuma remained unfazed.

A million thoughts were swirling on Kurenai’s head. They felt like colorful fishes swimming on a clear pond. Kurenai could see them and recognize a few, and she wanted to grab one but every time her fingers grazed one of those beautiful animals, the fish would quickly speed off away of her hands. She couldn’t grab any fish just as she couldn’t process any of her thoughts. There were a lot, all so different from each other; Kurenai needed the only thing she couldn’t get: time.

She already stole every minute she could, but time was up. Wasting more time would mean she would be pregnant alone with a child whose father she did not know, but existed the possibility of him belonging to another gang. Sure, it wasn’t the 1900 anymore, but fewer things than expected had change, even if it didn’t seem like it. Women were still seen as weaker, and children were a possession, both a mere pawn in a game of power. Kurenai couldn’t fight the Lightnings alone, nor she would make the Hellhounds fight her battles.

The only thought she could grab was that time was up. Either she married a Hellhound in order to keep suspicions from raising, or she let the Lightnings claim her and her child. The third option would be to run, but that would mean being simultaneously on the Lightnings’ and the Hellhound’s black lists. All the cards were played but Kurenai still couldn’t process her position; she was still feeling too much, and for now she couldn’t help to only feel alone and unwanted.

“Listen, when I said that I would do anything you need me to, I wasn’t lying. If the baby is mine, I’ll marry you without hesitation. I still want you safe, and as happy as you can be.”

“You just don’t want me,” she whispered. She realized how much more hurt she sounded in contrast of Asuma’s calculating, almost cold tone, refraining to feel anything at all. Before Asuma could say anything, she cleared her throat and spoke again. “So what? You want me to take a paternity test?”

“I don’t think it’s such a horrible idea,” Asuma replied.

They let silence settle between them after that. Kurenai could see that Asuma was itching for a cigarette, and Asuma could see Kurenai’s desire to leave the room.

“If it’s actually yours, we don’t have to get married, you know?” Kurenai broke the silence in a whisper.

Asuma snorted. “Right, yeah, not how this works.”

“This?”

“Yes, this. This life. Kakashi said it too. You can’t have a child alone, least of all being a member of the Family; that kid is going to be legacy. Honestly, if it’s mine and I don’t marry you, Kakashi will kick my ass before kicking us out of the city,” Asuma said, almost jokingly, throwing his arms to the air.

“And Kakashi won’t kick your ass for leaving me?”

“He’ll try for sure, but this way I stand a chance,” Asuma shrugged.

Kurenai just stared at him, with her eyebrows raised and her lips pressed into a thin line.

“All I am asking is for you to take a paternity test. If it’s mine, then all of our problems are solved; if it’s not, the Family will support you and we’ll find you a good husband,” Asuma added, all signs of joking out of his tone.

“I can’t with you right now,” Kurenai sighed.

“Is what I am asking so unreasonable, Kurenai?” Asuma stood up too, and looked at her with so much force it compelled her to look back at him.

And look into his eyes Kurenai did, expecting to find something as distant as his tone but finding instead… something else. Kurenai furrowed her eyebrows. Those deep brown eyes were packed with emotion. Through them, she could see that Asuma was hurting, that he did feel something for her, that he wanted this child to be his, that he was just as frightened as she was.

She wished those feeling could overwrite Asuma’s actions, or at least the words coming from his mouth; but they didn’t.

“Fine, I will take the damned paternity test. It’s still too soon, though, I have to wait at least another week,” she replied.

Asuma never looked so relieved in his life. “Thank you, Ku-”

“But know that if I end up marrying you, it will only be because I am forced to and nothing else,” Kurenai interrupted. This time she did manage to pull all feelings from her voice, that became sonic poison in a second.

Asuma stepped closer. “Come on, Kurenai, I…”

“Now get the hell out of my apartment.”

**_______________**

A dart flew right by Gai’s neck. It ended up hitting a lamp far back in the room.

“Come on, Yamato, that wasn’t even close!” Gai exclaimed and laughed.

“You are the one who is supposed to catch the dart if I miss!” Yamato exclaimed, a little annoyed but mostly gleeful; although that may have something to do with that happily drunk state of his rather than the game itself. “I broke the lamp, didn’t I?”

The game Tenzō and Gai were playing was fairly simple: Tenzō was blindfolded with Gai’s tie and had to play darts. From there, it was a little more complicated because there was a second twist: Gai was holding the board over his chest and had to catch any dart that his friend missed by moving the board. If by any chance Gai couldn’t catch the dart, he would get hurt, or something would break in the living room area they were in, behind the bar that was under reconstruction.

Gai kept laughing and Kakashi offered a small smile he tried to hide by drinking whiskey from his glass.

“Yes, you did,” Kakashi said, and felt his smile show in his voice. Maybe he was a little more drunk than normal.

“Come on, you landed four out of six, and there are still four more to go!” Gai encouraged him.

Tenzō nodded and took a deep breath before aiming a new dart to where he thought the board may be. The dart flew across the room and Gai moved a little to the right at the very last second, thinking the brunette’s aim was off. Only it wasn’t, the dart ended up grazing his upper left arm.

Gai hissed while the dart continued its trajectory, landing low against a wall. Kakashi let out a silent breathy laugh, and Tenzō removed the tie blinding him.

“I am not Genma, I am not good at this,” Tenzō sighed, getting more frustrated with every dart he threw.

“I think that’s what makes the game even more fun,” Kakashi shrugged while his friend plopped on the sofa wearing a frown.

Gai shot Kakashi a glare and sat next to Tenzō. “You are not Genma, but you are good. If Kakashi was playing, I’d be swiss cheese by now.”

While everyone laughed, Kakashi kicked Gai’s leg lightly. He didn’t have the need to defend his reputation as a dart player, or any activity that required to aim; not to his friends, not when they all knew Kakashi was probably as good as Genma.

“Speaking of Genma, why isn’t he here? I haven’t seen him in a while,” the silver haired asked. Not that Genma had to be there, they were just hanging out; but Kakashi hadn’t seen him since the meeting with the Eagles where Genma got shot.

“Shooting range, probably,” Tenzō replied as he served himself some whiskey. “What? He is almost always there if he is not here,” he added when he saw the curious look on Kakashi’s eyes.

“Yeah, that was my guess too. Leave it to me, I’ll talk to him tomorrow,” Gai offered.

Kakashi stood up and grabbed his jacket. “Okay. I’ll see you guys later.”

“Sadie must be asleep by now,” Gai commented, stopping Kakashi on his tracks.

Tenzō’s eyes went from one to the other. The air had changed abruptly. Gai’s tone wasn’t provoking per se, but the way Kakashi responded to his words and the slight smile that threatened to scape Gai’s lips indicated a battle of some sort was coming their way. Tenzō looked at his drink, whishing to somehow become invisible so that he wouldn’t get hit on the crossfire. He had been a Hellhound for a decent amount of time now, and one of the things he had learned was that getting in between Kakashi and Gai was an absolute mistake.

“I know, I am the one who says when she has got to sleep after all,” Kakashi replied sternly.

“Can you even remember when was the last time you saw her? Was it when this bar was bombed?” Gai asked, already knowing that that was in fact the last time Sadie saw Kakashi. “If I recall correctly, she saw you screaming at us. She must’ve been scared.”

“Drop it, Gai,” Kakashi threatened. His voice was deep and commanding, and with that look, even if they could only see one eye, he could freeze the entire room; Tenzō couldn’t understand how Gai was being so unmoved by the tension in the room.

“When you start acting like a decent guardian.”

“I am protecting, educating, and feeding her. She has everything she needs and more, so don’t bother me. We have more pressing issues to deal with.”

“That’s not everything-”

“That’s enough,” the leader of the Hellhounds cut Gai off.

He went to the door without waiting for a response and opened it only to find Asuma trying to do the same. With one look, Kakashi noticed that the bearded man wasn’t as chipper as usual, he wasn’t even smoking. Kakashi could imagine why.

“Hey, man,” Asuma greeted with not that much energy.

“You talked to Kurenai?” Kakashi asked. Asuma nodded, and Kakashi figured that if it went south, it was because Asuma didn’t want to do anything with the baby. “Remember our talk at that roof, every kid is like a king and you can protect this one. They can carry your legacy just fine, believe me.”

Asuma smiled weakly at him, with some new warmth in his eyes. “Fuck, you made me say that. I walked right into your trap, didn’t I?”

Kakashi returned the smile, mischief sparkling everywhere in his face. “See you, man.”

Asuma whispered _‘see you’_ back at him, but the Scarecrow was already gone, so he went to greet the other Hellhounds and sat where Kakashi was before leaving.

“You look like you need something to drink,” Gai said, already pouring him some gin in a new glass.

When Asuma took it, there was a lit cigarette on his hand. “Thanks… Hey, you were playing Deadly Darts?” he asked when he saw the board on a couch and a few darts nailed on the wall.

“Deadly Darts?” Tenzō asked Gai with raised eyebrows.

Gai just laughed. “Yeah, we play it often with Asuma and Genma.”

Tenzō shook his head and tried to hold back a laugh. “Jesus…”

There was a moment of silence where they drank or smoke. Not Gai, he was looking at Asuma, trying to figure out how to start a conversation about his tormented mood.

“I figure Kurenai isn’t joining us tonight,” Gai broke the silence.

“Uh… No, I…” Asuma began, but drifted away. It was a good thing that the Family was in the loop about what was going on, he didn’t feel like explaining it. He cleared his voice and took a sip of gin. “I told her I wouldn’t marry her if the baby wasn’t mine.”

The silence became heavier then. Tenzō’s expression was undecipherable; Gai’s, on the other hand, was crystal clear. His thick eyebrows were knitted together and his lips were pursed together.

“Why?” Gai asked, trying not to sound as angry as he was but most likely failing.

“Why should I? We aren’t a couple, we were just sleeping together. Why am I being burdened with the task of raising a random kid?” Asuma replied with more questions.

“You are a Hellhound, it’s your duty to do so,” Tenzō replied with a monotonous tone.

Before Asuma could get angry about that, Gai quickly intervened. “You were just sleeping together, but didn’t you want more than that?”

Asuma took a deep breath. “I don’t know.”

“Guess,” Gai requested.

“… I mean, yes. With Kurenai… it was always more than sex.”

“Then what’s the issue? Blood is thicker than water, that is our whole thing,” Gai said and cleared his voice. Asuma was in clear need of a pep talk to lift up his spirits and make the right decision, and he came to the right place because Gai adored pep talks.

“Many believe that it means that family bonds, bonds based on blood, will always be stronger than bonds of friendship or love. But the original meaning of the expression is that the ties between people who have made a blood covenant -or have shed blood together in battle- is stronger than ties formed by the water of the womb.”

“The blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb. Every Hellhound made the agreement to be one forever, and that means loyalty and willingness to shed blood for one another," Tenzō added.

“And we all have. Genma got shot the other day because of it. You have known Kurenai for over a decade, you have shed enough blood for one another lo last a lifetime. You two are blood, and this baby will be our blood too no matter who the father is because it isn’t water what’s important here.”

Asuma sat there, nodding and smoking while he took the information in. The other Hellhounds weren’t wrong, and it was true that he considered them family above anything else. He would die for them if he had to, and he secretly hoped to die that way some day. It was about nobility, loyalty, and integrity. Did rejecting this child betray that values? This baby wasn’t even born yet, no blood was shed yet, did it have to count anyways?

Gai could see that the bearded man was torn, maybe he needed another push. “Your own father turned against you, Asuma, and he is your actual family. Being related to someone doesn’t guarantee anything, but everyone deserves a father, blood related or not. You have a chance to do the right thing here, to show up for a kid who needs you. Shed your blood for this baby first, and I assure you that you will be rewarded with their blood too.”

By the time Gai finished talking, Asuma was hiding his face in his hands. He felt his ears getting red and a weird knot on his chest, whatever that meant.

He lifted his head from his hands and asked, “how can Kurenai forgive me after what I said to her?”

Tenzō smiled at him softly. “The Kurenai I know is scary as hell, but she is the most empathic woman I know. She will understand and forgive you if you don’t underestimate the power of an apology.”

Asuma nodded and finally put out his barely smoked cigarette on an ashtray. “Fuck, okay. Yeah, genetics are shit, if I raise the kid, the kid is mine, right?”

**_______________**

Genma was indeed at the shooting range. Knowing he wasn’t wrong gave Gai the ounce of satisfaction he needed to get trough the conversation he was about to start.

The shooting range was empty, only Genma was there, dressed in black with a baseball hat, along with ear and eye protection. Gai couldn’t tell if he was alone because he requested that, or because no one dared to enter the room. Genma was angrily firing a Colt M1911, having to load it with his injured arm. Thus, the process was slow. The booth was a mess, a bunch of human silhouette targets laid on the floor alongside more casings than Gai could count. On the counter there was another gun, a semiautomatic Glock, and bullet boxes.

Genma brough the target closer and threw it to the side without looking at it, placing a new one in its place. Gai, who had been sitting behind him, seized the silence to make himself known.

“Today is not your day, huh?”

The sound startled Genma, who switched to the Glock that rested on the counter faster than you could blink and pointed it at Gai.

“How long were you there?” Genma asked once he recognized Gai, although he was still pointing the gun at his friend.

“Genma!” he heard the owner scold him from afar. 

The brown haired Hellhound knew he was breaking a lot of rules -like keeping his gun pointed down range and the finger off the trigger until ready to fire (although he felt ready to fire, just not at the proper target)- and had been breaking rules since he walked in, so he put the gun away with a courtesy nod to the owner. He also removed the eye protection and placed it over the brim of his cap, and let the ear protection hang around his neck to hear better.

“I’ve been here long enough to see you suck with that Colt,” Gai replied.

Genma pointed at the used targets laying on the floor. “Never missed a single shot.”

It was true, all of them had big holes on the center of the head or chest. Still, Gai shrugged. “Not fast enough, you’d be dead before you load it.”

That was also true. The Colt Genma was firing when Gai arrived required to be loaded manually by pulling the hammer, a motion required to get the bullet in the barrel and get the firearm ready to shoot. Genma was slow because he had to do that after every single shot with his injured arm. Sure, his aim was still great, but it didn’t matter if it took him long to even load the gun.

Of course, Genma knew that but hearing it in Gai’s condescending tone angered him even more. Looking as annoyed as he was, Genma grabbed the Glock instead, which was semi-automatic pistol, he only needed to load it with a magazine filled with bullets and every time he pulled the trigger, a new bullet would enter the barrel on its own.

Without placing the ear or eye protection back on, Genma emptied the magazine on the target without breaking a sweat. He was determined and fast, but not rushed. The target came back and verified Genma’s accuracy.

“Impressive. Did your dick grow bigger?” Gai deadpanned.

Genma sighed, tired of Gai already. “What do you want, Gai?”

Gai smiled, pleased now that Genma was ready to talk. “What are you doing here?”

“What does it look like?” the brown haired man answered with a sarcastic tone.

In contrast to his chaotic energy, Gai remained impassive, sitting calmly with his hands intertwined. “It looks like you are blowing some steam.”

“Practicing,” Genma corrected. “I busted my good arm, that’s why I’m slow.”

“Why does it matter? You’ve proven to be good with both.”

“Good doesn’t cut it,” Genma dryly replied as he took off the cap with the eye protection on top and let it fall on the counter with a loud thud.

That answer took Gai by surprise. “Cut it for what?”

Genma was about to reply when Gai, who was watching attentively, noticed his red eyes and blown pupils now that the baseball cap wasn’t in the way. Could it be...?

“Are you high?”

“Fuck off,” Genma quickly said, but it seemed to be all it took to fully convince Gai that he was in fact high.

“You are. What the hell are you doing high in a shooting range?”

Genma chuckled bitterly. “Blowing some steam,” he mocked.

“Why do you need to be better? You are already a part of the Family, you can’t be kicked out.”

Genma let out a short dry laugh and began to put away the guns. He wasn’t about to be scolded like a child by a man who could never understand his point of view, and he didn’t feel like explaining it.

“Blood is thicker than water,” Gai reminded him, kind of as a last resort. Hoping Genma would react to the vow.

“Stop babying me,” Genma threatened and started to walk away.

Gai sighed. He did have one more card to play but he really didn’t want to do it. Kakashi wouldn’t like it if he found out what Gai was about to say. But since Genma was about to leave…

“You know, Kakashi was the one who asked for you. That’s why I am here, he sent me.”

The words, spoken in a confident calm, stopped Genma right in his tracks. He took a hand and ran it through his hair before making his mind up.

“Before all of this, I never got high, did you know that? I was a perfect cop, never did anything shady or bordering on illegal. That’s why I was the perfect candidate to go undercover to infiltrate the Hellhounds,” he began. He then turned around and faced Gai again, and kept talking as he walked over to take a sit beside him.

“Me and Kakashi used to hang out a lot, smoking and talking and having fun, you know? And I never got anything out of him, that damned bastard is really good. He got me so hooked up on those times together that I ended up caring more about what he thought of me than actually getting information and doing my job.” Genma paused a second to let out a quiet laugh. “To this day, I don’t know how he did it… Ah, well, you know the rest. Instead of doing my job as a cop, I betrayed the police and became a Hellhound for real.”

“Any regrets?”

“Fuck no,” Genma laughed again before getting more serious. “But once I became a member of the Family, it wasn’t the same between me and Kakashi anymore. I just… The Family met me as a double agent and I am still fairly new to this, I would understand if you all don’t trust me.”

Gai frowned and made a pause, looking for the right words to say. “If we didn’t trust you, you’d be dead by now; we aren’t you, but we are good shooters too. It’s been four months, Genma, you are blood and you’ve proven it.”

“And what’s going to happen to me the day I can’t fire a gun anymore? My worth is in my shooting ability and now I can’t even do that.”

_What was it with the Family these days?_ Gai wondered. Suddenly, everyone needed some kind of validation to keep going, what did he miss? He though he was paying closer attention, but every time he turned around, another Hellhound fell. Still, Gail smiled.

“I saw you land every bullet on the center of the target with your so-called bad hand while being high a few moments ago, you couldn’t miss even if you tried. Nothing is going to happen to you, you have more valuable skills than just shooting a gun. Stop crying because you got shot, it’ll heal before you know it.”

“I don’t know if Kakashi knows that,” Genma quietly murmured, more to himself than for Gai to hear. “And I am not fucking crying, Gai, you asked,” he quickly added once he realized he had said that out loud.

“Kakashi used to hang out with you a lot because he was keeping an eye on you. You not seeing him as much is actually a good thing, it means he trusts you. Kakashi knows you are valuable to the Family, he doesn’t say it because he is not your mother, Genma. And neither am I, so I hope this conversation is a onetime occurrence.”

Genma nodded slowly and let silence sit comfortably between the two. There wasn’t much to say after that, Gai practically ended the conversation and Genma was happy that he didn’t have to reply if he didn’t want to. Genma smiled to himself; he did end up getting scolded like a child after all. And Gai still thinks he is not a mother.

The thought was suddenly too funny, it quickly exceeded the smile on Genma’s lips and developed onto a full thundering laugh.

He really wanted to mock the other man, but Gai had just been a good friend, so he settled and instead said, “man, I am hungry.”

**_______________**

The birds were already singing, and the sun threatened to rise and light up the skies again. Was it dawn already? Kakashi felt suddenly tired as he took off his coat and let it fall on the coach.

He walked through the penthouse’s spacious hallways to get to Sadie’s room. He found himself missing his house over the bar, which was under renovation and would be for a few more days.

Kakashi considered not interrupting Sadie´s sleep and going to bed instead, but that thought went away as soon as he turned the corner. In the middle of the hallway that lead to the rooms, there was Sadie´s small figure. She was looking for something inside the mirrored wardrobe on Kakashi’s left. The child was actually climbing into the wardrobe, Kakashi could only see her legs wriggling.

“Kid?” Kakashi called.

Sadie was startled since she hadn’t noticed her guardian coming, and clumsily got off the wardrobe to stand opposite to Kakashi, holding a bunch of white bed sheets in a way that covered her whole body except for her head. Sadie looked like a deer caught in the headlights with her eyes big and fixed, and Kakashi could notice the firm grip on the sheets making her knuckles white, but her body still shaking slightly.

“Is there someone else here?” Kakashi asked, his instincts triggering his hand to wrap around the gun on the inside of his suit jacket, but not taking it out; it would be best if Sadie didn’t see it unless it was necessary.

Sadie slowly shook her head and Kakashi let the gun go. “Is everything alright?” he asked, taking a step forward.

The kid stumbled back on reflex, her hands were shaking and her lower lip was trembling slightly; but her eyes fixed on Kakashi. The Scarecrow was taken aback. Why did Sadie look so scared if they were alone?

“Are you scared of me?” he wondered.

“N-no?” She tried to sound firm, but it came out more like a question. Her big hazel eyes started to look glassy, so she blinked quickly to clear them up. “I-I am sorry. I know I am not supposed to cry.”

Kakashi doesn’t remember how or when he kneeled down, only his knees hitting the floor as if he had fell. He had dealt with an infinite number of complicated scenarios and almost always had found a way around them, but this time… It felt different, he didn’t know how to approach the situation

“It’s okay, Sadie. You can cry if you want to, it’s okay.”

Sadie nodded, her lip still trembling and her eyes wet, but she didn’t cry, she just looked at him. Kakashi felt a small relief, if Sadie had cried, he would’ve been utterly lost. Now he had to get more information about why the kid was up so late looking for bed sheets in the hallway.

“What’s up with the sheets? Do you want my help?”

Sadie gripped them even harder. “There is pee on my bed,” she quietly stated.

Kakashi nodded slowly. God or whoever was above them help him, what was he supposed to do? He tried to calm down, he surely didn’t know much but he did know that if he showed Sadie he was freaking out, the kid would only be more scared. Kakashi had seen men die, some by his hand; this problem paled in comparison, he could fix this, right? He just had to channel Gai and Kurenai’s energy, he could do that.

“Okay, can I help you with it?”

Sadie nodded again slowly, hesitantly. Kakashi stood up and got closer to the kid, who didn’t move back this time.

“Is it okay if I pick you up?” He knew it was a long shot, Sadie was beyond that age but maybe she would agree for this special occasion.

Instead of agreeing or rejecting the offer, Sadie simply said, “there is pee on my clothes too.”

Every curse word Kakashi knew flashed in his mind and repeated itself in a weird annoying mantra, but instead of letting it show in his face, he smiled softly. “Okay, can I pick you up anyways?”

Sadie nodded, and Kakashi lifted her up from the floor. She was right, she was covered in pee and smelled like it. “I think the bed can wait, would you like to take a bath?” The blond looked at him, still gripping the sheets, and bit his lower lip hard until it was white. “With as many bubbles as you like. We can fetch some toys, too,” Kakashi added.

“Really?” Her eyes shone with their usual sparkle and Kakashi felt her heart swell a little.

“I’m always for real, kid, remember?”

The blonde nodded once again, this time more energetically and dropped the sheets. Kakashi carried her to her bedroom, where the mattress on Sadie’s bed was bare; she had probably already put the dirty sheets on the laundry pile. The mattress also had a big stain in the middle, and smelled like pee in the same way Sadie did.

Kakashi didn’t put Sadie down, but let point at any toy she wanted and picked it up too. With two jellyfishes, three dolls and two of the toy cars without batteries, it was impossible to grab anything else, so Kakashi carried Sadie and the absurd pile of toys to the master bathroom.

The bathroom had the size of Sadie’s old bedroom, from when she lived with her father, and was decorated in a luxurious modern style to match the rest of the penthouse. The white, spacious bathtub was opposite to the black counters with marble countertops and the two sinks with elegant silver faucets that laid under the large mirror. In the back there were two showerheads and a marble bench enclosed by glass walls.

Kakashi kneeled down on the black carpet beside the bathtub and open his arms to let Sadie go, but the kid didn’t move too far.

“All toys in the bathtub,” he ordered and Sadie obeyed. He then opened the warm water and a little of the cold water to fill the bath. Kakashi looked back at Sadie, who had been staring at him the whole time.

“You get in the bath, and I’ll take care of the bed, sounds good? I believe it’s time to get a new mattress, anyways,” he lied.

Sadie looked away and bit her lower lip. Kakashi noticed that the kid was building up some courage to talk, so he stayed and waited patiently.

“Do you have to go?” Sadie finally asked. It wasn’t a usual request, she knew she was crossing a line somewhere but she really wanted the Scarecrow to stay.

“Do you want me to stay here while you take a bath?”

Sadie nodded hesitantly and Kakashi found himself as lost as he could get. The kid didn’t like to be touched or even looked at sometimes, her father’s abuses would probably haunt her for the rest of her life and Kakashi knew that. That was why he saved her from that situation and why he let the kid set the pace she wanted. The last time he saw her, she had refused to let a male paramedic look at her wounds. Therefore, Kakashi was surprised, to say the least, when he heard Sadie’s request.

Maybe she was making some kind of progress, or maybe it was a onetime thing; maybe she was more scared of being alone. It didn’t matter to Kakashi, it seemed as if he had missed a lot that week and he would always stay if Sadie asked him to.

“Then I don’t have to go,” Kakashi smiled weakly.

The bathtub was one quarter full, some of the toys started to float on the water. Kakashi fetched the bubble bar that smelled like lavender and handed it to Sadie.

“All yours.”

Having the power of unlimited bubbles in her bath made Sadie smile for the first time that morning, and she quickly got to work. That smile let Kakashi breath properly since he arrive; Sadie was more of a bright, talkative kid, seeing her so serious and quiet had stressed the Hellhound out a little.

“That’s enough, you don’t want to flood the entire bathroom, do you?” Kakashi asked as he took the bubble bar from her small hands.

Sadie flashed him a shy, barely there smile in return.

“I’ll turn around and you get into the bath, does that sound good?” He knew that even if Sadie had asked him to stay, it didn’t mean she would be comfortable undressing in front of him. Once in the water, Kakashi wouldn’t be able to see her body under the white bubbles that covered the surface.

To Kakashi’s endless surprise, Sadie shrugged her shoulders, but he chose to turn around anyways. He heard her undress and when she plopped into the warm water, he turned around again and immersed his hand on the water to check the temperature.

The second his hands hit the water, he panicked a little. What if that had made Sadie uncomfortable? What if Sadie thought he wanted to touch her? She was already scared of him, he didn’t need to give her more reasons. But the panic subsided as quickly as it came, because Sadie wasn’t paying attention to it, she had already grabbed the jellyfishes and was lost in a world of her own. Kakashi turned off the water.

“Can we talk, kid?”

Sadie turned around to face him and look him in the eyes, she then dropped her sight and looked for a new toy in the water. That was as much of an approval Kakashi would get.

“Can I know what happened?”

“Nightmare,” she replied absentmindedly, playing with a car on each hand, racing them on the edge of the tub.

“Was I in it?” he asked, making Sadie frown. She looked at him when she nodded. For the second time that early morning, Kakashi asked, “are you scared of me?”

Kakashi could see Sadie’s mind searching for an answer. “Not all of the time.”

Okay, Kakashi could work with that. He was known for being a scary man, and it served his image as a powerful gangster along with a red glass eye and a scar across his face. He even had a nickname, The Scarecrow, due to one of his nastiest accomplishments. If he weren’t scary, he couldn’t possibly get his job done. That said, he didn’t want to seem scary to Sadie all of the time, he wanted her to feel safe when he was around.

“Is there something I did to scare you?” At that point, Kakashi felt like an interrogator, but he needed more information about what happened and Sadie’s short answers weren’t doing it for him.

Sadie kept playing with the little cars and putting all of her attention on them while she answered. “I got out of the ambulance to look for you. You were yelling a lot. And then, you disappeared and… didn’t come back.”

Kakashi remembered that night a little over a week ago. He was pissed and rightfully so, his bar had been blown to pieces in front of him and Sadie and then he got scolded by Kurenai and Gai about not being a good parental figure. He had ended up yelling to them, and then to the police and other Hellhounds. And Sadie saw it all, his anger and the fire, his red eye glowing and a threatening grimace along with the nasty scar on his face. Sadie had never been scared of Kakashi’s face, but that image must have been disturbing to see.

“I am here now,” was the only thing Kakashi could muster.

Sadie stopped playing and looked at him straight in the eye. She looked sad, Kakashi could see it in her empty eyes and the way her mouth curved slightly down. He understood then what Sadie meant. _You are late, I thought you didn’t want me anymore._ She didn’t even have to say it, Kakashi had fucked up and now she was afraid he would leave her.

Silence set while Kakashi thought about what to say.

“I’ll let you in on a secret, kid. But you can’t tell anyone,” he began but Sadie’s attention remained on the toys, “anger is usually a weak cover for another emotion.”

The kid then looked at him with a small frown.

“Like when you got in a fight with that kid Tobias, remember? He was angry about what you said to him, but I believe that deep down he was scared because a girl stood up to him, and she was right.”

“He was scared he would be seen as weak,” Sadie realized.

Kakashi smiled. “Yeah, but he couldn’t show that he was scared.”

“That would’ve been even worse,” the little girl smiled.

“Mhm, so instead, he was angry.”

Sadie nodded, taking it in. “Boys are dumb.”

“Yes, they are,” Kakashi chuckled. There was a pause he used to get more serious. “I am a little like Tobias in that way. When I am scared, I look mad. I am angry that someone put a bomb on our bar, but I am even more scared that you could’ve been hurt. That’s what I look like when I am scared.”

“It’s not pretty,” Sadie whispered.

“No, it isn’t. Kid, Sadie… I’ll do anything for you to be safe. All I want is for you to be and feel protected.”

“Like in this tub.”

“Like in this tub,” he agreed.

**_______________**

The clatter of Kurenai’s heels echoed in the newly remodeled bar. It was good to see the place back in its glorious form, there was a nostalgic air to it. She went through the backdoor into the offices, walked into Asuma’s and threw the white paper bag she was carrying on the dark wooden desk, right under Asuma’s nose, who was startled by the sudden move.

“I got the fucking test results you asked for,” Kurenai announced.

Asuma stood up. “I am so stupid, Kurenai,” he blurted out.

“Yeah, you are. What is it this time?” she mocked him and crossed her arms.

“I deserve that…” Asuma replied as he scratched the back of his neck. “Listen, I am sorry. I want to be with you, okay? If this baby isn’t mine, I’ll raise them as one anyways, I honestly don’t care. I choose this kid’s blood as my own.”

Kurenai scanned him from head to toe, without trying to conceal her judging glare. Asuma looked like he was telling the truth, Kurenai could sense that he had truly repented for that night a week and a half ago. On top of that, he was apologizing; apologies did went a long way.

“Do you really mean it?”

Asuma went around the desk and grabbed Kurenai’s hands. “I do really mean it. This is an apology and… a proposal, if you will. I love you, and that is rare where we come from. I don’t want to let it go.”

Kurenai couldn’t help to smile, apologies really did it for her. “Mmm, talk dirty to me,” she joked.

The man let out a strident laugh that made Kurenai laugh too. “Fuck off,” he said, but there was no real venom behind it.

“So? Who managed to make you say this stuff?” the red-eyed asked when the laughter was over.

“What? It came from my noble and sweet heart…” Asuma lied, but Kurenai’s stare made him give up in a second. “Okay, it was Gai and Tenzō.”

Kurenai smiled sweetly and leaned in to kiss him shortly.

“I love you too, and I accept both your apology and proposal.”

“Thank you,” Asuma replied but one of Kurenai’s fingers was laid across his mouth before he could continue.

“If I keep getting words from your noble, sweet heart.”

Asuma couldn’t help to smile brightly. “Always, baby.”

The kiss that followed was one to seal the agreement. It was a kiss about remorse and forgiveness, about coming home and a love that bound them forever. It felt like they could kiss for an eternity, neither of them really wanted to stop but air was required at some point.

Kurenai suddenly remember why she was there. The paper bag had been forgotten for a moment, but it still laid on top of the desk. Inside, there was an envelope that contained some kind of truth that wasn’t really needed anymore, although it was probably a good idea to let Asuma know about its content.

“Now that I am sure you will marry me no matter what, I think that you’ll be happy to know that the baby is actually yours.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was definetely transitional, not much of the plot moved foward. But, I'll post next chapter this week and the plot will speed from here. I still hope you enjoyed it and look forward for the next one!<3


	6. The Scarecrow I

What a damned shame, Kakashi hadn’t finished his cigarette yet. But the black SUV he was waiting for was already parking in front of the dark alley he was standing on. He threw what was left of the cigarette to the streets where the rain would put it off. It was late at night and between the rain, the poor illumination, and the fact that he only had one working eye, Kakashi couldn’t see much from where he was standing. He didn’t move, he didn’t want to get wet. They would approach him anyway.

He distinguished a silhouette getting out of the SUV and opening an umbrella. Then, the person reached inside the car and pulled out another figure, who took cover under the umbrella since the first person wouldn’t let go of their arm. Together, they walked over to the alley where Kakashi had a better look at them.

The first one was a dark skinned woman dressed in a formal long sleeved dress, and she was around Kakashi’s age. She had green eyes and silver hair pulled back into a low bun with bangs falling on either side of her face. Kakashi knew her, he had bumped into her a few times, and from those short encounters he had formed one opinion only: it was better to avoid having Mabui of the Lightnings as an enemy. She was A’s right hand for a good reason, crossing her would be the worst idea anyone could have.

Mabui held the umbrella on one hand and the arm of a fair skinned, middle aged woman on the other. This woman had shoulder length hair with bangs that was the same color as sand, and was wearing a grimace that narrowed her green eyes and made her look fiercer that she was feeling. Mabui was tightly holding her arm, as if she were afraid that the woman would run away. ‘The woman’ had a name very few people knew, most people just called her The Bleeding Heart. 

“Hatake,” Mabui said as a greeting.

“I was expecting Kiyoi Yotsuki, but you are a better view,” Kakashi replied. Kiyoi Yotsuki was the Lightning that used to be in charge of business in Konoha, demoted because Kakashi told A that Kurenai was stealing information from him. Also, and thankfully, he was _not_ the father of Kurenai’s child.

Mabui let a polite smile disrupt her usually serious expression. “You are a bastard, but you are a smart one, Hatake. I’ll give you that much.”

Kakashi mimicked her smile and took a big envelope from the inside of his coat. “These are the licenses A requested.”

Mabui took the envelope and let go of The Bleeding Heart’s arm to look inside and verify that it contained exactly what Kakashi was saying.

“Everything seems to be in order. I will see you in a few weeks when you deliver your other promise,” the Lightning said.

“Can’t wait,” Kakashi scoffed.

With that, Mabui was gone along with the black SUV. In the dark street, under a little roof in an alley that served a shelter from the rain, only Kakashi and the journalist remained.

Kakashi didn’t expect what happened next. It seemed that the woman seized the moment to push the Scarecrow against the brick wall and trap him there with her arm across his chest. Before Kakashi could react, there was a short but sharp knife threatening to burst an artery on his neck.

The Scarecrow cleared his voice. “That is pointy,” he commented casually as a single drop of blood went down his pale neck.

“You are Kakashi Hatake,” the woman said as if she had just realized it. “Why do the Hellhounds want me?”

“Actually, the Eagles want you. Dead, if possible,” the Hellhound answered calmly.

He wasn’t wearing an eye patch that night, and the woman’s look oscillated between his two eyes as if she could find something there.

“I can just kill you right now,” The Bleeding Heart said.

“You won’t.”

“Why are you so sure?”

Kakashi made a side smile. “You are a journalist, not a killer. The element of surprise was the only thing you got going for yourself. Now I can easily disarm you, even if you went for it. But you don’t want to kill me, I wonder why.”

The Bleeding Heart nodded in defeat and put down the knife as a sign of peace. “Believe it or not, I actually respect you.”

The Hellhound snorted. “Right, the journalist who made a career out of taking down organized crime groups respects the head of a popular gang.”

“We aren’t that different. Everyone may believe you are this big evil gangster but I am a journalist, it’s my job to know the truth. That nickname of yours, Scarecrow… You got it when you took down the Crows. Those were good days.”

Ah, the Crows. Kakashi had long forgotten everything about them even if they were the reason for the nickname he was given around a decade ago. The Crows were the biggest organized crime group back in the day, they were mostly involved in financial crimes and arms smuggling, along with political corruption. They were actually a big family, all of them with some high ranked position in the police, and some of them in politics- the Uchihas.

For the longest of times, the surname Uchiha inspired fear and it seemed like they couldn’t be taken down. Until one day a bomb was placed in a building that belonged to the Crows. Almost every Uchiha was inside, celebrating a big annual meeting. The ones who weren’t, were found assassinated later that day. Only two Uchihas survived the massacre: Sasuke, who was too young to be involved in such a thing, and his brother Itachi.

The Bleeding Heart smiled slyly before continuing. “You let Itachi Uchiha take the fall for you both. And thus, you became the mighty Scarecrow, Konoha should fear you next.”

“I know the story, and what you said is exactly what does make us different. I still don’t get where you are coming from.”

“What I said is what everyone believes to be true. Itachi planted the bomb and did most of the killing, you just pulled the trigger on a few people and reaped the rewards. But why? Why would you help Itachi?”

“You just said it, I reaped the rewards. Look at how it ended, Itachi is in federal prison for life and I am here, successfully running one of the biggest gangs in Konoha,” Kakashi brushed it off. He seemed to be all calm, leaning against the wall with his hands in his pockets, but he understood then the point the journalist was trying to make. And dared he say, she wasn’t all that far off the truth, which disturbed him.

The woman laughed a little. “It doesn’t matter how it ended, it matters how it started. No one in his right mind would’ve helped Itachi. He was one man with a simple plan against the Crows, which included the whole Konoha justice system. He had very few chances of succeeding and if he hadn’t, his destiny would’ve been far worse than federal prison. You didn’t help him for the slim chance of success, you helped him because you wanted to take the Crows down.”

“Didn’t everyone?”

“Sure, but not for the same reasons as you. You didn’t want the power and reputation you now have, you wanted to end corruption in Konoha. You wanted the justice system to work, and to stop the arms trafficking. Instead of writing a few articles uncovering the truth and letting there be consequences like I do, you murdered a bunch of Crows.”

Kakashi stood straight then. The Bleeding Heart’s words had made his hair stand on end. “Your conjectures are unsupported. Why would you think I have such noble motives?”

“I have ears everywhere, Scarecrow. I know about the schools you build, about the anonymous charity donations you make. I know that when a Hellhound wants to go to college, you pay for it. Do you want me to keep going? Because I can. Your means are wicked, but our goal is the same.”

The Hellhound looked for a cigarette and a lighter and began to smoke. He couldn’t say she was wrong any longer, he had been caught but that didn’t mean he would agree with her. The Bleeding Heart looked pleased with herself, and that also bothered Kakashi.

“It’s in Konoha’s best interest that you keep up doing what you do, I guess. Now you know why I don’t want you dead, but I have yet to figure out why you don’t want _me_ dead,” the woman prompted after a while.

Kakashi let out a big puff of smoke and threw the cigarette away before saying, “follow me.”

The Hellhound started to walk under the rain without waiting for a response, knowing the woman would follow him closely. They crossed the street and entered the building on the corner, which was gray and old, and had a neon light that barely worked and read ‘Hotel’. Without stopping at the front desk, they took the stairs.

They kept going up until the last floor, where Kakashi led the way to the last room down a long desolated hallway. They stopped right at the wooden door, and the woman noticed two suitcases next to it.

By that time, the journalist was panting from the exercise and cold from the rain. “I am a middle aged woman, you know. And you smoke a lot, how can you climb those stairs without getting tired?”

Kakashi looked at her for a second, and then opened the first suitcase. Inside, there was what the journalist recognized as one of those white suits the crime scene investigators used so that they wouldn’t contaminate the evidence. Without a word, Kakashi began to get dressed.

“Wait, I thought you wouldn’t kill me,” the Bleeding Heat Started to panic.

“I won’t,” the man simply replied.

“Then what is the suit for?”

“I am in a difficult position, you see. The Eagles want me to kill you, and I can’t really refuse. But I don’t want to kill you because, as you said, we have the same goals. Also, you are a key piece in a bigger game I am playing, but I will tell you about that later,” Kakashi said.

By then, he was already dressed in the suit so he opened the hotel room door. He signaled the woman to go in and, when she complied, grabbed both suitcases and followed her.

“I need you alive, but I also need you dead. So, you are going to disappear for a while,” the silver haired continued.

“Is this where I’ll be staying?” the journalist asked.

Kakashi laughed. “Hell no, this room is hideous. This is where you are going to die.”

“I don’t follow,” the Bleeding Heart said. Her heart began to beat faster and a cold sweat ran down her spine.

“Relax, would you? All we have to do is leave some of your DNA here and there. Take a shower, lay in the bed for a while, use the desk or something, write whatever you want. Inside the second suitcase there are clothes that are meant to fit you and some paper.”

The woman then understood what was about to happen and the wave of relief was so big she had to sit down on the old, ugly bed.

“You are going to fake my death,” she said.

Kakashi nodded. “We are. This room will explode later tonight and the police will find a burned body and your DNA all over the room and bathroom. There is one more thing I need, something to tie the body to you so there is no doubt that you died here.”

The journalist had seen enough movies and heard just enough stories to know what the Hellhound meant. “You don’t mean…”

“I need a tooth.”

“No way.”

“I need this to be a hundred percent perfect and for that I need a tooth from your mouth,” Kakashi said in a stern tone that let the journalist know that he wasn’t really asking.

The Bleeding Heart weighed her options. If Hatake needed this to be perfect, that meant she did too. And if she didn’t comply and let him pull out one of his teeth, she was sure that the man would do it anyways, whether he had her consent or not. Or worse, he would decide that he didn’t need her and kill her in that dirty hotel.

“Fine, I’ll let you pull out a tooth and I’ll help you with your master plan or whatever only if you do something for me in return,” she decided.

“Sure, that much was to be expected,” the man sighed.

“I have a daughter. Her father passed away recently and she is staying with her aunt. I need you to protect her and I want to see her at least once. I don’t want her to believe that I truly died here.”

Kakashi nodded knowingly. “I am aware. She is seventeen, right?”

The journalist frowned. “How do you know her?”

“Did you really think I wouldn’t find out your name, Mebuki Haruno? Don’t worry, I will protect Sakura and I believe it’s possible for you to see her,” the Hellhound promised.

The woman, Mebuki Haruno, was simultaneously afraid of the Scarecrow and relieved that she would see her daughter again. Ever since the Lightnings took her under their protection, she hadn’t put a foot inside Konoha. It’s been a while since she has seen Sakura.

“Okay. Great,” Mebuki said as she nodded energetically. “I don’t suppose you have any anesthesia, do you?”

**_____**

Through the mirrors on his motorcycle, Kakashi could tell that he was being followed. The two black cars tailing him kept a safe distance but the Scarecrow had noted their presence the second they appeared. He knew for a fact that it was the police; he had been waiting for them after all.

Kakashi smiled a little too smugly and turned right; just when he got to the next corner, the black cars emerged in the mirror. He turned left and waited for them to appear again. There they were again. Good, they were close to Kakashi’s destination. The Hellhound sped off, losing them for a couple of blocks. He had to hop off the motorcycle and hide it before the cars found him again. Not a huge deal since he had been preparing for that day for a few weeks now.

He went into a parking lot that was exactly behind a famous, huge casino and five-star hotel. He parked the motorcycle right next to the backdoor into the building and covered it with a cover he had left there a few days prior.

Kakashi felt a smile twist his face beneath the mask. He was prepared for this and the adrenaline coursing through his body tickled in a comfortable, almost nostalgic way. He went through the backdoor and into the casino feeling arrogant, but caring too little about it.

Right when he was in the middle of the stairs that led to the hotel, he noticed four men dressed in identical black suits standing in the middle of the casino. Kakashi was in disguise with his silver hair hidden under a baseball cap, sunglasses framing his face and a mask covering the rest. He knew the mask made him recognizable if you knew what you were looking for, but if some camera caught him, no one could say for a fact that it was him under all that fabric. 

When he was at the top of the stairs, Kakashi turned around and waved at the four men. As soon as he was spotted, he sprinted off towards the stairs. When he was on the fourth floor, he heard the men enter the stairs and try to decide whether to go up or down. Kakashi sighed in boredom when he got to the sixth floor and the men didn’t move.

“You will never catch me at this rate,” he mocked while he kept running up.

The men started to climb the stairs with a few shouts Kakashi didn’t pay attention to. The Scarecrow was clearly faster, with some extra advantage, he got to the eleventh floor. Without stopping for a break, he stopped going up and went through the door and into the hotel.

The Scarecrow looked for a keycard he had stolen two days before inside his jacket’s pocket, and looked for the room it opened. He found it and stepped inside. He had lost the police for now, but he was planning on being found again, so he didn’t have much time. He had every bit of the plan worked out, and so far everything had gone as expected. But what he saw inside the hotel room he had just stepped into wasn’t something he had planned for.

The room was spacious, as expected from a highly rated hotel. The bed was big and on the right side of the room, in front of a small living room area with a fireplace and a tv. On Kakashi’s left there was an ornamented door that he assumed led to the bathroom. Nothing of that really grabbed his attention. What did, though, was the boy sitting on the floor, before the luxurious bed, with his head hidden in between his knees, which he hugged with his pale arms. The Scarecrow couldn’t see him well, but based on his information, the kid must’ve been around eleven years old.

Kakashi did anticipate meeting a child, what he hadn’t anticipated was seeing blood in his shoes. The Scarecrow had to focus and come up with a plan on the spot or the bigger picture would be spoiled.

“Hey, kid?”

The boy lifted his head and looked at him with stone gray eyes that were a little red. “He fell… I wasn’t… I didn’t…” he boy mumbled.

“Tell me exactly what happened,” Kakashi commanded. From what he could tell, the boy was in deep shock, but he didn’t have time to be nice.

Judging by the blood and the kid’s shocked expression, someone had died and if they did, they would probably be inside the bathroom since there was no one in the room aside from the boy and Kakashi. The latter opened the door of the bathroom while the former tried to answer the demand.

Inside the wide bathroom there was a man. Or, more precisely, the lifeless body of a fat, bald man. Kakashi quickly recognized him, he used to be the district attorney. His blood now stained the floor’s white tiles and the corner of the sink. The blood pool had been clearly stepped into, there were some small footprints in it, although nothing that could serve as conclusive evidence. The game had just become more complicated, Kakashi’s mind was already storming with ideas while he heard the boy talk, even though he suspected knowing what had happened.

“I didn’t want to… do what I was supposed to. He took me by an arm and we struggled for a while… when I finally managed to get free, he balanced back and fell,” the boy was saying. His voice was quiet, but not from shyness or remorse; Kakashi felt as if he was scared to be heard instead. “He hit his head, I don’t think he is breathing anymore.”

Kakashi opened the bathtub’s faucets, giving water a chance to flood the bathroom and erase some evidence, and closed the bathroom door with his gloved hand. He then took off the sunglasses and the mask. The boy audibly gasped when he saw his red eye and the scar that disrupted his face. “Do you know who I am?” Kakashi asked.

The boy stood up and took a step back, bumping into the bed. Kakashi could then see what he was wearing: a fancy black and red corset and a minuscule black short, along with some fishnet stockings. Kakashi felt disgusted. He knew what happened in that building, that was why he had come, to stop all of it; but seeing a boy in that state, with red his red lipstick smeared over his cheeks, could make Kakashi vomit.

Sadie’s image flashed across his head, but the Scarecrow quickly put it away. He didn’t want to think about such a horrible scenario, and he didn’t have the time either.

That specific floor on that specific hotel was a place where men with high positions in Konoha’s government stayed because they knew that the room service also served kids as if they were toys. With a quick search in the dark web, Kakashi had found out about a few specifics, along with the address and blueprints of the building. And Kakashi didn’t want to take the whole thing down because he was as noble hearted as Mebuki Haruno had suggested, but because that hotel belonged to Danzō Shimura. If news broke out that this kind of thing was happening in one of his hotels, Danzō could never be elected as governor like he wanted. He would be done for, forced to disappear along with the Eagles. Kakashi didn’t appreciate being messed with, this was about revenge.

“Y-yes,” the boy answered while he nodded energetically. Kakashi recognized what he say in the boy’s eyes, something that wasn’t there a few moments ago: fear.

The Scarecrow put the sunglasses and the mask back on. “You don’t have to be scared of me, I came here to save you all. There is more of you, isn’t there?” The boy nodded in response. “The police are about to enter this floor. I need you to go outside when I tell you to and explain to them what happens in this hotel. Can you do that?”

The boy trembled. Kakashi could almost literally see him shrink.

“What’s your name?” the Scarecrow asked as he got closer to the kid and sat on the bed so he could look at him in the eyes.

“T-Tsukune,” the kid muttered.

“Tsukune, right now I need you to be strong so we can save you and all the other kids. You will be a hero, don’t you want that?” Kakashi said. Damn it, he felt for this kid but he hadn’t got much more time; he had to convince him right that second. He felt a flare of anger and had to take a deep breath so he wouldn’t lose it. Why did he have to care for this kid? As if there wasn’t enough on his plate, as if this kid were more important than the real reason he was there.

“What about the sir in the bathroom?” Tsukune asked. His lips were trembling a little, but he refused to cry. It reminded Kakashi of Sadie.

“You will be okay, I will make sure of that. All of the kids here will be okay, you’ll all grow well and be taken care of. You just have to help me set them free, can you do that?” Kakashi asked once again.

Tsukune took a deep breath and nodded with resolution. “Yes, I can alert the other kids to come out too. And… there is a backdoor for you behind the wall of the fireplace, it leads to the kitchen. You will get a little dirty, but…”

“That’s great, Tsukune, I didn’t know that,” Kakashi smiled under the mask. He heard some footsteps outside, the cops must’ve finally caught up. “Hear that? It’s the police, it’s time to go. You will be okay, I promise.”

The both of them walked over to the door and stopped there. The kid looked at the Scarecrow. “Is this going to be freedom?”

Kakashi nodded. “It’s as sweet as they describe it,” he smiled.

He then got an idea, and looked for something in his pockets. It was a piece of paper with the address of the casino and hotel, and the date of that day written by himself. The same piece of paper he had borrowed from Iruka’s notepad not that long ago.

“Kid, you can’t tell anyone you saw me, okay? It doesn’t matter what they promise you or if they threaten you, I swear I will make sure you grow up just fine, so you can’t tell,” Kakashi warned.

“Of course not,” the boy nodded.

The Scarecrow then handed the boy the piece of paper. “And take this. Save it and give it to the police when they talk to you at the police station. You can’t say it’s from me, just that you found it.”

Tsukune took the sheet of paper and hid it inside his corset. “Will I see you again, Scarecrow?”

“Not if you are lucky. Now, go save those kids.”

The boy opened the door and started to scream to the kids in the other rooms to come out. The police came right away, and when they realized what was happening, they joined Tsukune’s demands and started breaking in some rooms where they found even more kids.

The Scarecrow got more than enough time to escape through the fireplace and into the kitchens, from where he went to the parking lot. His motorbike was waiting for him outside, and he ran off with a smirk on his face. He didn’t even have to hide from the police cars arriving at the casino, the police couldn’t ignore a bunch of disheveled prostitute kids, not even for the Scarecrow.

The Eagles were over.

**_____**

Kakashi headed directly to his office at the bar where he kept an extra suit he changed into. He left there a few knives he was carrying and asked Tessa to burn the clothes he was wearing at the casino.

He then left the bar in order to go to the penthouse since him and Sadie hadn’t yet moved back to their house above the bar, but he bumped into Gai as soon as he stepped out. It was a good thing that the bad hadn’t opened yet, the streets were deserted and they would be able to talk freely.

“Ah, Kakashi, my dear friend!” Gai exclaimed. 

“Gai,” the Scarecrow nodded. For some reason, even though his friend hadn’t said anything yet, Kakashi was already annoyed. He had been annoyed since he left the hotel and he couldn’t pinpoint why, he could just feel the familiar warmth of anger running through his veins like lava.

“News travels fast, I heard about Danzō’s hotel,” the black haired man commented. Kakashi wasn’t surprised that his friend found out about it so quickly since Gai used to be an information dealer and had surprisingly great espionage skills.

“Yeah, what a damned shame.”

Gai showed his teeth behind a stern, bright smile. Oh, he had an opinion. _Great_ , Kakashi thought. The silver haired gangster knew he loved his best friend, but the anger he felt made him meaner than usual. Besides, it was fueled by the way their interactions went down lately; they usually ended up fighting because of some disagreement about Sadie’s upbringing.

“I don’t know everything you are planning, but you should be more careful,” Gai said.

“I am always exactly where I mean to be,” Kakashi stated while trying to remain as calm as he looked on the outside. 

Gai placed a heavy hand on his friend’s shoulder. “At this rate, that place will be in prison. You know that if you set foot in there, that man will try to…”

“He won’t get a chance,” Kakashi replied sternly, shrugging off the hand on his shoulder.

“I hope you know what you are doing, then. Because if this keeps going, Sadie will lose another guardian. Do you even care about her?”

The Scarecrow took a deep breath. Not this again. The anger inside him was only growing and he feared he wouldn’t be able to control it for longer. “Cut it. Next time I swear I’ll punch you.”

Gai gave him a hefty shove and Kakashi stumbled back, almost falling. “Fight me, then. Get it out of your system.”

Oh had his friend crossed a line. Kakashi didn’t care about controlling his anger anymore. Instead, he punched Gai on the side of the face. He was going for another but Gai grabbed his wrist with one hand and punched him in the face with the other.

“Why is it that the only way to get through you is fist fighting?” Gai panted.

Kakashi didn’t care to answer. Instead, he landed his fist against Gai’s face. Before the other could react, the Scarecrow pushed him back and forced him to trip by putting one of his feet behind Gai’s.

But Gai wasn’t done, he took advantage of his new position on the floor to bring Kakashi down too. The silver haired’s face met the floor with a thud. Gai then hopped over him, twisting Kakashi’s arm behind his back and holding the other one against the floor.

“What I am trying to say is that you don’t have to do all of this alone,” Gai said. Kakashi struggled a little, but Gai’s hold was firm. “You are a good man, Kakashi, just pay closer attention to those around you.”

Kakashi huffed, his anger had reached a whole different level. He managed to free himself from Gai’s hold and stood up, stepping back so he’d be out of his friend’s reach.

“What the fuck is going on with everyone?! Do you seriously think I am a good person?! I took down Danzō because I don’t like being used like a fucking puppet! He threatened me and what I have built, thought he was superior and that he could use me to kill that journalist, so I took him down. That’s it!” Kakashi yelled.

Gai had stood up, too. The smile on his lips made Kakashi want to punch him again. “Then why are you mad? Shouldn’t you be celebrating?”

“I am fucking mad because… I don’t know! Fuck!” Kakashi made a pause he filled with panting from all the fighting and yelling. When he talked again, he was far calmer. “This situation I am in… it’s complex. I won’t drag the Hellhounds down with me, and all I want to do is protect Sadie. Can’t you just… be my friend and trust that my plan will work instead of questioning every fucking thing I do?”

An image of that kid he had met, Tsukune, popped into Kakashi’s head. He then realized why he was so mad. He was mad because he cared for the boy without having shared more than three minutes with him. He was mad because he knew that Danzō’s trafficking network could continue without him. Kakashi had a lot on his plate managing the Hellhounds numerous activities, the reopening of the bar, the casino’s inauguration, taking care of Sadie and protecting Mebuki; he didn’t need to add more people to take care of yet he felt burdened with a sense of responsibility for Konoha’s safety he didn’t want to acknowledge.

Mebuki couldn’t be right. His goal wasn’t to clean Konoha’s streets, it was taking care of his growing business. Then why on Earth did he find himself doing everything to take down other gangs when they didn’t really affect that business?

“Do you trust your plan?” Gai asked, pulling him out of his mind.

“Almost a hundred percent,” Kakashi nodded.

“Then I trust you to tell me when you need me.”

**_____**

Kakashi closed the door to the penthouse with a heavy breath. He had to take care of his clothes and face, both messed up due to the fight with Gai.

“And purple sprinkles!” he heard Sadie shout from the kitchen.

“Sure thing!” Mebuki yelled back as she stepped into the living room. The middle aged woman was wearing a green apron over her clothes and a kind smile on her face.

The Scarecrow frowned. “Where do you think you are going?” he asked the woman.

“Jesus, Hatake…” the woman was startled. “I am going to the store. We are making cookies with Sadie and you lack ingredients.”

“Write down what you need and give it to one of the bodyguards, you can’t leave.”

“No one will recognize me as The Bleeding Heart, it will be okay. By the way, what happened to your face?” Mebuki asked.

Kakashi sighed. “Your photograph is all over the news, remember? Your secret identity isn’t secret anymore, you can’t go out until we clear everything up. Besides, I need you to finish that article we talked about, I have already done my part.”

Right, Mebuki had forgotten about that. Since her death was faked, she had been staying at the penthouse doing nothing except writing a single article late at night and spending time with Sadie during the day. The little girl liked her immediately and demanded to spend all of her time with Mebuki, who obliged because she really didn’t have anything else to do.

Mebuki had accommodated to her new life fairly quickly, and forgot all about the details of her fake death, like the fact that her body was recognized, which meant everyone knew she was the Bleeding Heart now. The news was tying her death to gang related activity, using her numerous articles to support the theory; nobody suspected Danzō had ordered it. But then again, the fact that Danzō Shimura was the head of the gang named the Eagles wasn’t common knowledge; it felt so natural for the few people who knew that they tended to forget that the public saw Danzō as a CEO with interest in politics and nothing else.

After faking Mebuki’s death, Kakashi had asked the journalist to finish the article that made Danzō go after her. That article shed light on Danzō’s ties with the Eagles and all of their activities, including child prostitution. Kakashi also told her a little about the plan he had executed early that day, which would be the final blow. Mebuki also had to include that she faked her death on her own because she feared the Eagles would come for her.

“Right, I am not used to being recognized… or dead,” Mebuki replied. “I’ll finish the article tonight and post it in the morning.”

“Good. Okay, make that list with what you need and add whatever you two want for dinner,” Kakashi said.

“You aren’t staying?” the woman asked.

The Scarecrow was already walking towards his room. “I don’t think so. If something changes, I will call you and if you need to contact me… ask Gai, somehow he always knows where I am.”

“I don’t have a phone anymore, remember?”

Ah, right. They threw her phone in the street for the police to find. “Then add a phone to the list.”

**_____**

Iruka was on the phone when the Scarecrow entered his apartment. He almost gasped, thinking someone had broken into his home.

“Just tell me, alright?” Iruka said to the other person on the line when he realized it was just Kakashi. “Okay, okay, I promise I won’t ask a lot of questions.”

Kakashi left the blue garment bag he had brought on the sofa and opened the glass door that led to the small balcony so he could light a cigarette to smoke while he waited for Iruka to end his call, which gave the teacher a chance to take a good look at him. The gangster wore a dark gray suit with a black vest; like all of his suits, it was luxurious and tailored to fit him perfectly. Iruka would never ever admit it out loud, but that hot man looked even hotter smoking in his balcony.

That was what Iruka was thinking when he finally got a good look at the Scarecrow’s face. He had an angry scratch on his right cheek, as if he had fallen on his face, and was wearing an eye patch that couldn’t completely cover the bruise on his temple.

“Oh, sorry, I wasn’t paying attention. What were you saying?” Iruka asked when remember he was in a conversation over the phone. He then went to the bathroom to grab a first aid kit and joined Kakashi on the balcony.

“It’s alright, Iruka…” the Scarecrow began but Iruka shushed him.

“No, I wasn’t shushing you, Naruto… Yes, I am listening!” Iruka said to the boy on the other side of the line. He grabbed a cotton from the first aid kit and placed some ointment on top of it. Then, he rubbed it gently over Kakashi’s cheek while he kept talking on the phone. “You are rambling, Naruto, what’s the big news?”

Iruka put the cotton down to grab another, and Kakashi blew out a small puff of smoke in his face with a devilish smile. The teacher coughed a little and hit the back of the Scarecrow’s head while he glared at him. The silver haired knew how much he hated cigarettes, but Iruka had never seen a smile like that on his face. It was… playful, mischievous in a youthful way. Could a gangster smile like that?

“Wait, that’s amazing! This is very, very great news! How… who is paying for it?” Iruka asked Naruto, a big smile appeared on his face. He then grabbed another piece of cotton and kept working on Kakashi’s wound. “Wait, why? No, I know I said I wouldn’t ask a lot of questions but you have to answer these ones.”

The teacher removed the eye patch over Kakashi’s eye and revealed a bruise on his temple that went to the area under his eye and seemed fairly fresh. 

“I don’t know, Naruto, if you can’t tell me, it mustn’t be good,” Iruka said as he grabbed a soothing balm that was perfect for making bruises disappear quickly and rubbed it on Kakashi’s face. “Okay, fine. You are right, I am incredibly happy to hear this, I am happy for you,” he continued his conversation with Naruto. A few seconds later, he was laughing out loud. “Yes, I’ll buy you ramen in celebration, how about the day after tomorrow? Okay, see you then… Oh, and Naruto? I am proud of you.”

Iruka ended the conversation and looked at Kakashi’s serious face with a broad smile. “Naruto is going to college!” he exclaimed and wrapped his arms around Kakashi’s neck. The Scarecrow didn’t move, and Iruka quickly broke the one sided hug. “Shit, I am sorry, I-”

But he was cut off by Kakashi’s lips on his. When Iruka got over the surprise and started to return the kiss, one of Kakashi’s hands went to the back of the teacher’s neck and the other one to his lower back. The Scarecrow quickly dominated the kiss until Iruka couldn’t decide between melting from pleasure or breaking the kiss to breath.

He chose the latter. “What was that for?” Iruka asked with a pleased smile.

“You have no idea how hot you look patching me up while you are on the phone, do you?”

Oh. _Oh._ Iruka was busy and didn’t pay attention, but he knew that Kakashi hadn’t taken his eyes off him while he did that. And the look on his eyes was filled with lust. Iruka smiled smugly and took Kakashi’s cigarette to throw it out since his mouth would be preoccupied with something else.

“Let’s go inside, then.”

They barely made it to the bed. By then, Iruka was only wearing his boxer briefs while Kakashi remained fully dressed in his three-piece suit; that didn’t seem fair to the teacher. He reached for Kakashi, who was kneeling on the bed with a leg at either side of his waist, to try and get his jacket off but before that could happen and so fast Iruka hardly understood what had happened, the brown haired found his wrist handcuffed to the bed.

“Kakashi, what…?” Iruka tried to ask but instead of listening, the Scarecrow handcuffed his other wrist too.

The Scarecrow then took his jacket off and threw it away. He was unbuttoning his vest when he said, “I have plans tonight. I will fuck you nice and slow until the only thing you can do is beg, and even then I won’t listen.” Kakashi’s voice was so deep Iruka could feel it echo on his chest; or maybe it was the lust aggressively pumping his blood. 

The silver haired discarded the vest and also took his shirt off. Then, he ran his hands on either side of Iruka’s torso, stopping at his nipples and started playing with them. Iruka bit his lower lip.

“I enjoy your usual boldness, Iruka, but tonight…” Kakashi said. “Tonight I just need you to take it.”

Kakashi had to truly be a hound from hell because there was no way that he could make Iruka want to obey every single request with only a few dirty words and the right touch. They usually went for a rough, fast pace no matter who was topping, what the Scarecrow was asking for was something Iruka would’ve never thought of doing; and he wasn’t sure he would ever want to until he heard Kakashi ask. Because, sure, the silver haired was demanding something but he was holding back from really touching Iruka, he was waiting for a green light.

Normally, Iruka would’ve said no but the way Kakashi’s words made him react suggested otherwise. Besides, the teacher noticed that Kakashi needed this and maybe he would find out why.

Iruka cleared his throat. “Can I get a kiss for courage first?”

The Scarecrow frowned but obliged, he let go of the teacher’s nipples and got closer to kiss him. One lewd kiss was all it took for Iruka to heat up, helped by Kakashi’s hands caressing all the right spots and the promises the gangster had made.

Kakashi’s hand went even lower and lightly grasped the bulge on Iruka’s pants and started rubbing. Iruka’s breath hitched and he held tightly to the handcuffs, and after a while he couldn’t take it anymore, he needed the other man to touch him without his underwear on the way.

“More,” Iruka demanded in a moan. “Give me more.”

The silver haired stood up and looked for the lube and condoms before taking Iruka’s underwear off. He coated his fingers with a liberal amount of lube and began rubbing one around Iruka's entrance. The brown haired waited patiently but Kakashi wasn’t moving further and he was getting needier and needier. He tried to control his breathing to calm down, slow wasn’t his rhythm, he felt he was about to go crazy.

Just when he was about to say something, Kakashi entered him with a finger. Iruka sighed in relief, but it didn’t last long because the Scarecrow was serious about fucking him slowly. He opened Iruka up at a leisurely pace, adding another finger and swirling unhurriedly, occasionally hitting his prostate.

Kakashi hummed. “You say you don’t like it slow but I have never seen you enjoy yourself this much,” he lightly mocked.

Iruka cursed out loud and pushed himself on Kakashi’s fingers. The gangster was right, he realized. A sheen of sweat covered his brown skin, he couldn’t stop panting and moaning, and he couldn’t think a single clear thought either. He felt as if he was going crazy, but he needed more. So much more.

A third finger entered him and joined the slow pace of the others. Kakashi’s other hand got ahold of Iruka’s cock and started jerking him off so slowly Iruka felt he would just die.

Soon, he was too close to cumming. He didn’t understand how Kakashi had done it but he felt so good he was about to burst. Tears were collecting on Iruka’s eyes, his lower lip was white from his harsh biting and his grip on the handcuffs was starting to hurt, but he didn’t care.

Kakashi suddenly let him go completely. “No,” Iruka whined.

The Scarecrow held Iruka’s jaw with his cleaner hand and forced him to make eye contact. “You will come from my cock inside you, slowly driving you insane, you hear me?” The only thing Iruka could do was nod aggressively. Kakashi grabbed a pillow and placed it under Iruka’s waist before taking his clothes off.

Iruka licked his lips in anticipation and mentally cursed the handcuffs that prevented him from touching the other man.

Kakashi entered him slowly, like every other action that night, but not too slowly that it would hurt or be uncomfortable. He stood still for a second and Iruka considered begging but decided not to. It wasn't that he was above begging, he just didn't want to give in to Kakashi's wishes so quickly; he was already a sweaty, oversensitive mess.

It didn't matter anyways because the next second, Kakashi began to move. If Iruka thought of begging before, it didn't compare to the need to beg then. Kakashi was being true to his word, the pace was tortuously slow but so, so good.

Iruka couldn't help moaning every time the other man thrusted inside him. Helped by the pillow, the position let Kakashi hit his prostate, and Iruka was already sensitive from foreplay.

Kakashi kept fucking Iruka slowly, enjoying the teacher's groans and moans, the sweat glistening on his skin, the way he held onto the handcuffs as a landline.

But Iruka was hungry for more, so he tried to shift his hips up to hurry the rhythm and make it faster. Quick as lightning, Kakashi's hands went to his hips to pin him down and stop the movement. Iruka's eyes met Kakashi's angry look and devilish smile.

Kakashi didn't say anything; instead of scolding Iruka, he thrusted into him until he bottomed out. Without letting Iruka even grunt, he started moving with that slow pace again. Only this time the thrusts were shorter, Kakashi's cock remained deep inside Iruka.

The brown haired man lost it. He couldn't help the needy moans that scaped him, he couldn't move, he couldn't even think. The whole room had desintegrated, even his body; Iruka was only anchored to reality by the only thing that felt real: Kakashi's entire erection buried inside him.

"Kakashi, _fuck,_ " Iruka moaned.

"Mmm, is this the part where you start beging?" the Scarecrow asked, but Iruka couldn't bring himself to say any more words. Kakashi let go of his hips and got closer to his ear to whisper, "do you want me to go faster?"

Iruka let out a sound halfway between a moan and a groan. He shook his head. "No, just… please touch me. _Please_."

Kakashi smiled smugly and wrapped a hand around Iruka's length. It only took a few strokes to make Iruka come undone.

Iruka was left panting with his eyes closed, feeling like he was floating. It felt as if he had lost his conciousness and was starting to come back. When he opened his eyes again, he noticed that the handcuffs were gone and Kakashi was rubbing his wrist. Iruka hummed from the nice feeling.

"Wait, you didn't come," Iruka realized.

Kakashi laughed. "I did on your stomach not long after you." Iruka looked at his stomach but he found nothing there. "I already cleaned you up," the Scarecrow clarified.

"You… what?"

The Scarecrow grabbed Iruka's jaw and rubbed a finger over his lips gently. "If you were mine, I'd treat you even better."

Iruka was so surprised that words left him again. The deep voice, the gentle touch, those confusing words... What did they mean?

"I am going to grab a quick shower, you should eat something," the Scarecrow said before Iruka could say anything.

Kakashi disappeared into the bathroom and after a few minutes, Iruka stood up and went into the kitchen. He downed a water bottle and looked for something to eat while he watched tv.

The silver haired came into the living room when a news about Mebuki Haruno had started. He stood behind Iruka and stole a piece of his sandwich.

"They are still running the news about the Bleeding Heart," Iruka commented casually.

Kakashi nodded and took a seat on Iruka's armchair. "It's big news."

"They say she was killed by a street gang…"

"Do you have anything to ask me?" Kakashi asked bluntly.

Iruka bit the inside of his cheek and left his sandwich on the coffee table. "Did you do it?"

Kakashi weighed his options for a few minutes of silence. "Why would I do that?" he finally asked.

"Well, her articles are famous. They give people hope and take down big gangs… like yours. And… and you mentioned being at war with the Eagles one time, maybe it has something to do with that?" Iruka replied. Kakashi had never seen the teacher so nervous about accusing him of something.

"It has. But Mebuki Haruno is alive, I didn't kill her. In fact, I am protecting her," Kakashi came clean.

"What? Why?"

"You'll see tomorrow. The tv news aren't broadcasting a big event that went down today. The Bleeding Heart will make sure the people know the truth," the Scarecrow said. Iruka opened his mouth to talk but Kakashi cut him off to change the subject. "That is for you," he said and pointed to the garment bag resting on the couch.

Iruka hesitated before unzipping the bag, inside of it was a suit. It was navy and more expensive than his apartment, and he let the other man.

"This is more expensive than this apartment."

"It's yours, I am confident that it'll fit you perfectly," the Scarecrow said.

"Where would I even wear this?"

"My casino opens next week. I hope to see you there."


End file.
